The Ohio Parole Board notified county prosecutors that it will review the cases of at least five people on death row in the coming weeks. The notices came months after DeWine called on state lawmakers to end the death penalty, arguing the system is slow, expensive and doesn't deter crime.
DeWine said Monday that while he’s looking at commuting some death-penalty sentences before leaving office in January, he won’t follow California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lead by issuing a blanket commutation for all 106 Ohio Death Row inmates.
“I’ve made the decision that I’m not going to do a blanket reduction as California did,” DeWine said in an interview. “We will look at every single case and make decisions based on that case.”
DeWine, a Republican who announced his personal opposition to the death penalty in June, has asked the Ohio Parole Board to review and make recommendations on death-sentence cases in at least 10 counties, including Cuyahoga, Summit, and Lorain counties in Northeast Ohio.
Ohio has not executed anyone since 2018, before DeWine took office.
"He is looking at things on a case-by-case basis," DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said. "This is nothing blanket."
Tierney said the governor routinely considers clemency but acknowledged "there's a higher volume now" as DeWine approaches the end of his final term.
The Parole Board scheduled clemency hearings in December for Denny Obermiller, Melvin Bonnell, Freddie McNeill and Stanley Jalowiec, according to prosecutors' offices in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. The board will also interview Victoria Drain in mid-December, said Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell.
At the same time, the Parole Board abandoned plans to look at three death penalty cases in Hamilton County, according to records provided by the prosecutor's office.
A spokesperson for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction did not immediately respond to a request for information.
"The commutation process typically takes months and provides prosecutors, the victim's family, and the public ample opportunity to express their concerns," said Lou Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. "Doing this in the short amount of time before he leaves office raises serious questions about whether he is honoring the state's obligations to the victims of these crimes and to the public."
Can DeWine commute death sentences in Ohio?
As governor, DeWine can issue pardons—an official forgiveness for a crime—or reduce someone's sentence through a commutation. People on death row have lobbied him for clemency, while the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio urged him to issue commutations for those who exhausted their judicial appeals.
"Executing an innocent person is not a risk we should be willing to take, and we hope Gov. DeWine is seriously weighing that risk," the organization said in a statement on Nov. 9. "Clemency is an act of justice."
DeWine can't make any clemency decisions until he receives a recommendation from the Parole Board. Earlier this year, he commuted the death row sentence of Gregory Lott to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Marshall Project reported.
DeWine has not yet acted on the board's recommendation for Tyrone Noling, who maintains his innocence in the 1990 murders of an elderly Portage County couple. The board suggested Noling's sentence be commuted to life in prison with parole eligibility after Jan. 1, 2029.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also leaves office in January, recently made headlines for commuting the sentences of 548 people on death row in the state.
Sources: dispatch.com, Haley BeMiller; cleveland.com, Jeremy Pelzer, November 10, 2026
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