COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Three inmates facing the death penalty are seeing their executions delayed, with two of them bumped back for the second time.
The state originally planned to carry out the three inmates’ death sentences in the early months of 2024. On Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine issued reprieves of execution to push them back several years.
- Greg Lott: originally scheduled to be executed on Feb. 15, 2024, rescheduled for April 14, 2027
- John Stojetz: originally scheduled for March 14, 2024, rescheduled for May 19, 2027
- Archie Dixon: originally scheduled for April 17, 2024, rescheduled for June 16, 2027
Both Lott and Dixon previously had their executions delayed in 2020. Stojetz, who was convicted of stabbing a Black teen to death in 1996, had his death sentence moved back for the first time.
The governor’s office shared a consistent message on the reasoning behind the delays. Like he said in 2020 when it previously moved Lott and Dixon’s executions back, DeWine cited “ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs” to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, “without endangering other Ohioans.”
At least three other inmates have execution dates that were previously rescheduled for later months in 2024. As of Friday, the governor’s office had not pushed any of them back for a second time.
- Timothy L. Hoffner: originally scheduled to be executed Aug. 11, 2021, rescheduled for June 18, 2024
- John David Stumpf: originally scheduled for Sept. 15, 2021, rescheduled for Aug. 13, 2024
- Lawrence A. Landrum: originally scheduled for Dec. 9, 2021, rescheduled for Oct. 15, 2024
Hoffner in particular shares a connection with a fellow death row inmate. He was convicted alongside Dixon for a 1993 Toledo murder.
Like DeWine, state Attorney General Dave Yost has complained recently of issues in Ohio’s death penalty system. A 2021 report from his office showed of the 341 death sentences in Ohio, only one out of every six has been carried out. The report also shows those who were put to death in Ohio first spent an average of nearly 20 years on death row.