DeWine pushes back executions for 3 inmates yet again

View a previous report on lawmakers considering a new law allowing nitrogen hypoxia for execution in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday that he would delay executions for three prisoners as the state deliberates whether to introduce a new method to kill its death row inmates.

The announcement included reprieves of execution for the following three inmates:

• Lawrence Landrum: previously scheduled to be executed Oct. 15, 2024, rescheduled for Oct. 13, 2027
• Warren K. Henness: previously scheduled for Dec. 17, 2024, rescheduled for Dec. 15, 2027
• Sean Carter: previously scheduled to be executed Jan. 22, 2025, rescheduled for Nov. 17, 2027

Landrum was previously facing execution on Dec. 9, 2021, making this the third time his date has been pushed back in the last five years. He was originally scheduled to die on Feb. 12, 2020, after being convicted of killing an 84-year-old man during a 1985 robbery.

Henness was originally scheduled to die by lethal injection on Feb. 13, 2019, but has seen repeated reschedulings for his execution. The Ohio Parole Board recommended against granting him mercy in 2019, after he maintained he was innocent in the 1992 shooting of an addiction counselor.

Carter is the only inmate from the trio whose execution hasn't been previously delayed at least once. He has been on death row since 1998, after being convicted of murdering Veader Prince in 1997.

Earlier in 2024, DeWine also delayed two other executions slated for the year. The pair of inmates also had previous dates rescheduled in the past:

• Timothy L. Hoffner: originally scheduled to be executed Aug. 11, 2021, rescheduled for June 18, 2024, and then again for July 14, 2027
• John David Stumpf: originally scheduled for Sept. 15, 2021, rescheduled for Aug. 13, 2024, and then again for Aug. 18, 2027

Several changes -- some more solidified than others -- are on the horizon for the state's death row prisoners. The governor has continuously delayed executions because Ohio has had difficulty securing the chemicals needed for lethal injections, thanks to the "willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs" to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

In response, the Ohio Attorney General and two Republican lawmakers proposed the state adopt nitrogen hypoxia to sidestep the lack of lethal injection drugs. House Bill 392, which would officially adopt the execution method, had its first hearing in April. Other lawmakers have previously put legislation on the table to get rid of the state’s death penalty altogether. Bipartisan bills in the Ohio House and Senate both surfaced during sessions in 2023.

At the beginning of 2024, the ODRC also announced it would move its death row inmates to a new prison. The male inmates were previously housed in a unit of the Chillicothe Correctional Institute. However, they will only move a 15-minute walk away from their original facility.

ODRC decided to move the death row inmates to the nearby facility because of its status as a high-security prison. The Chillicothe Correctional Institution cells where the majority of the state’s death row inmates have stayed since 2011 are considered medium security, and the agency planned to modify them to house 300 other prisoners.