COLUMBUS, Ohio— On Thursday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued reprieves of execution for three death row inmates who were scheduled to be executed in 2025.
DeWine issued reprieves for these inmates:
- Percy Hutton, who was scheduled to be executed on June 18, 2025. The new date of execution has been moved to June 21, 2028. Hutton, of Cleveland, was sentenced to die for the 1985 fatal shooting Derek Mitchell after an argument over a sewing machine, according to Cleveland 19 News.
- Samuel Moreland, who was scheduled to be executed on July 30, 2025. The new date of execution has been moved to July 19, 2028. According to the Dayton Daily News, Moreland was sentenced to death for the November 1985 murders of his five people, including three children. The victims were his girlfriend, Glenna Green; Green’s daughter, Lana Green, and Green’s grandchildren Datrin Talbott, Datwan Talbott and Voilana Green. The newspaper states that “Three other children were beaten and/or shot and left for dead.”
- Douglas Coley, who was scheduled to be executed on September 24, 2025. The new date of execution has been moved to August 15, 2028. Coley was sentenced to death in June 1998 for killing 21-year-old Samar El-Okdi in Toledo in 1997 during a carjacking, according to WTOL.
According to a press release from DeWine’s office, the governor “is issuing these reprieves due to ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC), pursuant to DRC protocol, without endangering other Ohioans.”
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to “‘take all necessary and lawful action’ to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions,” according to the Associated Press.
Lethal injection as a method of execution remains controversial with reports of painful and even botched procedures including one case in Ohio in 2016 involving inmate Joseph Clark. According to the Associated Press, prison staff could not find a vein for the lethal injection and his arm began to swell.
The Associated Press reports that during the execution, “Clark raised his head and said: “It don’t work. It don’t work.” Technicians ultimately found another vein, but Clark wasn’t pronounced dead until nearly 90 minutes after the process started.”
Reports say Ohio has had a moratorium on executions in recent years.
