Ohio AG Dave Yost asks lawmakers to allow executions by nitrogen gas

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost voiced support for executions by nitrogen hypoxia and criticized Gov. Mike DeWine’s capital punishment delays.

Yost testified in the Ohio House in favor of a House Bill 36, which would permit nitrogen hypoxia executions. Nitrogen hypoxia refers to executions where inmates are killed by inhaling nitrogen instead of oxygen, leading to suffocation. The move is in opposition with fellow Republican DeWine, who has delayed executions for death row prisoners throughout his time in office.

On Friday, DeWine pushed back two more death row inmates’ execution dates by three years. DeWine said the delays were “due to ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs.”

Yost said private drug companies are refusing to provide execution drugs, which he hopes to fix by authorizing a secondary form of execution. Lethal injection is currently the only legal execution method in Ohio. See previous coverage of nitrogen hypoxia in the video player above.

The nation’s first nitrogen hypoxia execution took place in Alabama in 2024. The United Nations strongly opposed the use. U.N. experts asked the U.S. to ban the “experimental” practice, as it has not been widely tested.

Opponents of nitrogen hypoxia executions point to prolonged, possibly painful deaths. Although experts said the practice would be quick and painless, witnesses to Alabama’s executions using nitrogen said inmates “writhed” in supposed pain for up to 20 minutes. Ohio banned gaseous executions for animals in 2023.

In his testimony, Yost called DeWine’s 57 reprieves for death row inmates “dishonorable.” He said Ohio jurors made the difficult decision to condemn offenders to death, and the state should fulfill its promises to jurors and to victims’ families.

Ohio has not seen an execution since DeWine took office in 2018, and DeWine said that will continue until the end of his term in 2026. According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Ohio currently has 113 inmates on death row.