Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester , represents Ohio’s 3rd senate district and is the vice chairperson of the senate judiciary committee. Reynolds is also on the host committee of the council of state governments midwestern legislative conference and the vice chair of the conference’s criminal justice and public safety committee .
Understandably, there are families, prosecutors and many of my colleagues in the Ohio General Assembly who believe execution equals justice. I believe there is a better way to deliver justice and punish those who commit the most heinous of crimes — by executing their freedom, not their lives.
In February of 1999, Wilford Berry Jr. became the first person executed in Ohio since 1963. He was known as the “Volunteer” because he understood that life in prison is another kind of death sentence - and to him it was far worse. Berry rejected attempts by the Death Penalty Division of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office to have him deemed mentally incompetent to make that decision.
He wanted to be put to death.
Along with several of my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, I am co-sponsoring Senate Bill 101 that would end Ohio’s use of the death penalty.
A similar bill, House Bill 259 , is also gaining bipartisan support.
My strong faith and personal experience have brought me to this crossroads in criminal justice. I believe in the sanctity of human life. I believe that life starts in the mother’s womb and should continue through our natural course of being, blessed to live on God’s earth.
Many of my colleagues, who like me, are truly pro-Life, believe that only God knows when it is our time to die. Yes, the Bible is full of stories about the death penalty. The wrongful execution of Christ by the Romans saved us from our sins and provides us a path to heaven. All part of God’s great plan.
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Wrongful executions should never be part of man’s plan. Criminal justice is not a perfect system. Like us, it can be flawed, and one wrongful execution is one too many.
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19 .
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I have witnessed the lives harmed by crime. From criminals to victims, and to the families and children caught in the middle. This led me to develop the EXIT program, which operates as a licensed community residential center focused on preparing people who served their time to re-enter society.
The lives that have been saved from a path of destruction are worth the effort to rehabilitate.
Not every offender is a success story.
Some people return to prison. And for the worst offenders among us, that is where they shall stay for the remainder of their lives. An execution of their freedom.
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I understand that many prosecutors believe the potential for a defendant to receive the death penalty serves as a valuable tool to gain a conviction resulting in a life sentence. Yet, multiple times execution dates have been delayed due to what amounts to a blockade on the drugs used in the lethal injection process.
Who suffers the most through decades of appeals? Who suffers the most when justice delayed turns into justice denied? The families who were victimized.
Ohio must move forward
A life sentence without the possibility of parole is a sentence until death. Closing the cell door forever can help families move forward and close the book on the lengthy legal arguments pervasive in an imperfect system.
The book of Matthew says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Last month, I hosted a discussion in Columbus at the council on state governments' Midwestern Legislative Conference entitled "Legislating Life: A Weighty Discussion of State Sentencing Laws and Policymakers' Role in Addressing Mortality in Prisons and Jails."
It was a critical opportunity for my fellow lawmakers to hear the experiences in other states that have successfully kept communities safe and held people accountable for their actions without executions. More than half of the states represented at the conference have ended capital punishment.
It is time for Ohio to move forward.
Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester , represents Ohio’s 3rd senate district and is the vice chairperson of the senate judiciary committee. Reynolds is also on the host committee of the council of state governments midwestern legislative conference and the vice chair of the conference’s criminal justice and public safety committee .
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' Ohio Death penalty must be abolished.
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