18th ANNUAL LOIS ZAAS ADVOCACY MEMORIAL LECTURE

Repealing Ohio’s Death Penalty: The Time is Now

Bipartisan support for the repeal of the death penalty in Ohio is the highest it’s ever been. Hear from an exonerated death row inmate, a victim’s family member, the former Ohio Attorney General, and other experts on why now is the time to act.

Marge Koosed, Aileen McMurray Trusler Professor Emerita at The University of Akron School of Law and Board Chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions, will give an overview of Ohio’s death penalty and the abolition efforts that are underway in the Statehouse.

Ngozi Ndulue, Senior Director of Research and Special Projects for the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., will present a national perspective of the dwindling death penalty, highlighting the racial disparities, lack of deterrent effect, and cost issues both nationally and in Ohio.

Jim Petro, former Ohio Attorney General and one-time death penalty supporter, his wife Nancy Petro, Phi Beta Kappa Denison University graduate and co-author with Jim of False Justice – Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent, will discuss how our legal system risks executing the innocent.

Joe D’Ambrosio, exoneree, will speak about his own harrowing experience of being an innocent sentenced to death.  

Jonathan Mann, Vice Chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions and a murder victim’s family member, will recount his own transformation from death penalty supporter to opponent and why he and others experiencing such tragic loss believe they are better served by repeal.