The Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has issued an open letter urging the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association (OPAA) to oppose Senate Bill 101, which, if passed, would abolish the death penalty.

The bill was first introduced in March of 2023. 

Watkins has released an open letter ahead of the meeting Thursday and Friday in Columbus in support of Ohio's longstanding death penalty and President-Elect Donald Trump's plan to revive executions federally.

In the letter, Watkins mentions the state's "unofficial moratorium" and uses examples of the eight states that have performed 23 executions and the advancing methods of execution to call Ohio back to action.

"It is time for Ohio to get out of the muck and mire of the swamp of delay," Watkins said.

Watkins also said he thinks the process of approving the execution of a convicted criminal takes too much time, noting that nationally known death row inmates, such as South Carolina mass murderer Dylan Roof and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose crimes and convictions have occurred almost a decade ago.

"Victim's families have been waiting far too long too many years to see justice carried out," Watkins proclaims.

Watkins, recalling when he was the OPAA president in 1990, said he and Lorain County Prosecutor, Gregory White and OPAA Executive Director, John Murphy, worked "hand in hand" to "defend the constitutionality of the death penalty," even though Watkins was Democrat and White was Republican.

Watkins referred in the letter to what he called a time in Ohio where criminals were convicted and executed promptly, such as the nine-month turnaround on the execution of two men convicted of murdering a Newton Falls Police Chief in 1932.

In the letter, Watkins cites events that occurred that led to the increased amount of time it takes for a convicted criminal on death row to face execution, such as Furman v. Georgia in 1972, Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, and a 1981 death penalty law.

Watkins stated using the death penalty creates what he believes is a "...certainty of fair punishment for wrongdoers" which he says "...enhances public confidence in government."

"I have seen victims' families relieved with the execution of various killers as there is some meaningful finality with most I have seen," said Watkins.

The full open letter can be read below: