Ohio Republican governor urges end to death penalty, saying it cannot be morally justified

Departing Mike DeWine, who co-wrote state’s death penalty bill, says ‘I no longer believe [it] is a deterrent to murder’

Republican governor Mike DeWine, the who co-wrote the bill to reinstate Ohio’s death penalty more than 45 years ago, has called for the state to abolish capital punishment, saying it did not improve public safety and could no longer be morally justified.

“I no longer believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder,” DeWine said on Tuesday. “The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.”