DeWine reprieves 3 executions, including of Columbus man
Gov. Mike DeWine postponed the executions of three men on Friday, including a Columbus man convicted in a 1992 killing.
DeWine issues the reprieves “due to ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction,” according to a news release.
Pharmaceutical companies started banning the sale of their products for lethal injections back in 2011. Pfizer, the last seller of execution drugs, ended its sales in 2016.
Warren K. Henness was scheduled to be executed on Dec. 17 of this year for the March 20, 1992 slaying of Richard Myers, a lab technician from Circleville. Henness was convicted of luring Myers to his Columbus home under the pretext that he needed substance-abuse counseling from Myers, who frequently went to Columbus to volunteer his time, the Dispatch previously reported.
Henness was convicted of kidnapping Myers, shooting him in the head five times, cutting his throat and taking his car, checkbook and credit cards. Henness and his wife and another man spent the subsequent days using Myers’ money to smoke crack and abuse other drugs.
DeWine moved Henness’s execution to Dec. 15, 2027.
The governor also provided reprieves to Lawrence Landrum and Sean Carter.
Landrum was scheduled to be executed on Oct. 15 for the killing of Harold White Sr. on Sept. 19, 1985 at White’s Ross County home outside Chillicothe. Landrum was convicted for killing White by slicing his throat with a knife so deeply that all the blood drained out of his body. Landrum has been on Death Row since 1986, the Dispatch previously reported.
Landrum’s new execution date is Oct. 13, 2027.
Carter was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 22, 2025 for the killing of his adoptive grandmother, Veader Price in Trumbull County, according to media reports. Attorneys for Carter have previously argued he was not mentally competent to be executed for the crime.
Ohio officials have debated for years whether they can continue to execute prisoners sentenced to death. Ohio’s last execution, in July 2018, took place during the administration of DeWine’s predecessor, suburban Columbus Republican John R. Kasich. Since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, under Republican then-Gov. Bob Taft, the state has executed 56 people.