Ohio bill would allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost expressed on Monday his support for a bill that would legalize execution by nitrogen hypoxia in Ohio, while claiming private companies are withholding the drugs necessary for lethal injection.

In a press release, Yost’s office said the AG recently expressed his support of House Bill 36 to members of the House Judiciary Committee. He described in the press release the state’s capital punishment system as “long-broken” and “costly,” and suggested the system could be fixed by passing the bill, which would allow nitrogen hypoxia to be used in state executions. 

Per Ohio law, the only legal form of execution is lethal injection. Yost claimed during his testimony that “private drug companies are defying Ohio’s laws and vetoing public policy by refusing to provide execution drugs.” 

The last execution carried out in Ohio occurred in July 2018, when Robert Van Hook was executed. According to Yost’s office, 56 out of the 337 death sentences received in Ohio since 1981 have been carried out. 

Yost argued that resuming executions would be a service to justice. His office said in the press release that he “reminded committee members that the families of victims as well as Ohioans who served as jurors and made the difficult decision to sentence a defendant to death are counting on Ohio leaders to carry out the state’s capital-punishment laws.”

The bill itself states that a person who has been sentenced to death must choose, in writing, whether they elect to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia or lethal injection one week before the court-ordered day of execution.

It also specifies that if a person chooses to be executed by lethal injection, but that lethal injection cannot be carried out, nitrogen hypoxia will be used instead to execute the person. 

HB 36 was introduced in the Ohio House on Feb. 3, and was referred to the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 5. Its primary sponsors are representatives Brian Stewart and Phil Plummer. 

But it’s not the first time the bill has been introduced in Ohio, nor is it the first time Yost has expressed his support for it. Stewart and Plummer first introduced the bill in the state’s 135th General Assembly in January 2024, shortly after it was first used in Alabama. That version of the bill, called House Bill 392, did not advance past the House Committee, and appears identical to HB 36. 

Execution by nitrogen hypoxia involves placing a respirator gas mask over the face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen, according to the Associated Press, which reported on the execution of Carey Dale Grayson. 

Gray was executed in Alabama – one of the states which allows the method of execution – in November 2024 for the murder of Vickie DeBlieux, 37, as she hitchhiked through the state on the way to her mother’s home in Louisiana. The woman was attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff.

Of Grayson’s execution, the Associated Press said Grayson was strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask on his face prior. Describing the execution, the AP wrote the following:

“Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said the nitrogen flowed for 15 minutes and an electrocardiogram showed Grayson no longer had a heartbeat about 10 minutes after the gas began flowing. Like two others previously executed by nitrogen, Grayson shook at times before taking a periodic series of gasping breaths.”

Officials have described the process as humane and effective, while critics called it cruel and experimental.

Currently, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama was the first state to execute inmates via nitrogen hypoxia, and Louisiana has since also joined that list. 

The first execution using the method killed Kenneth Eugene Smith, also in Alabama. The execution occurred in early 2024, and was the first in the world. Since then, a total of seven people have been killed by the method.