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Thread: Cleveland Ramon Jackson - Ohio Execution - July 15, 2026

  1. #31
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Execution protocol established by state prison system on trial

    Two men on death row believe Ohio’s process for executing prisoners is invalid because of the way it was put into place.

    The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) develops a protocol for executions. The men argue the protocol is a set of rules that the DRC must submit through the state’s formal rulemaking procedure before implementing. The DRC didn’t follow the procedure, so the agency cannot execute them, the men conclude.

    James O’Neal received the death penalty for murdering his wife in 1993 in her Madisonville home. During a 2003 robbery in Lima, Cleveland Jackson shot into a crowd, killing a teenager and a 3-year-old. Jackson was sentenced to death. Both men’s executions are scheduled for 2023.

    O’Neal sued the state in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in January 2018, arguing that the DRC protocol is invalid because it was improperly adopted. The court allowed Jackson to intervene in the case later that year. In April 2019, the court granted summary judgment in the DRC’s favor.

    The men each filed appeals with the Tenth District Court of Appeals. In a combined ruling, the appeals court upheld the trial court, stating in part that the execution protocol isn’t a government agency rule.

    R.C. 111.15 defines a “rule” as “any rule, regulation, bylaw, or standard having a general and uniform operation adopted by an agency under the authority of the laws governing the agency; any appendix to a rule; and any internal management rule.” Rules developed by government agencies in the state must go through a formal rulemaking process.

    O’Neal and Jackson appealed the Tenth District’s judgment separately. The Ohio Supreme Court accepted both cases and combined them for oral argument.

    O’Neal and Jackson maintain that the execution protocol – specifically, DRC 01-COM-11 – is a rule because it sets DRC standards that have a general and uniform operation for carrying out executions.

    Under state law, government agencies must file all proposed rules with the Ohio secretary of state, the Legislative Service Commission and the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review and must meet certain standards before the rules can take effect. However, the DRC didn’t submit the execution protocol to any of these agencies. Because the DRC failed to follow the rulemaking process, the execution protocol is invalid, Jackson contends.

    O’Neal disputes the Tenth District’s conclusion that the protocol isn’t a rule because it “fills the gaps” left by the General Assembly when enacting the state law governing executions. O’Neal agrees that administrative agencies adopt rules to fill the gaps in statutes and describes this role as part of the agency’s responsibility and power. However, he argues, the filling of legislative gaps doesn’t exempt the DRC from the rulemaking requirements in R.C. 111.15.

    Jackson notes that California, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska and Oregon mandate that execution protocols go through their state administrative rulemaking procedures.

    Represented by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the DRC argues the men don’t have the right to sue because the agency isn’t mandated to use a written execution protocol. The men could be executed with or without a written protocol, the agency maintains. Because the men’s ”injuries” – their scheduled executions – can’t be corrected by a ruling in their favor, they don’t have standing and the Court cannot hear the cases, the DRC asserts.

    The agency also contends that the protocol isn’t a rule because it doesn’t have general and uniform application. Although R.C. 111.15 states that an “internal management rule” falls under the definition of “rule,” the law also notes that “any order respecting the duties of employees” is not a rule. The agency argues the protocol isn’t a rule, viewing it as an order that directs the responsibilities of employees – essentially a checklist for personnel carrying out executions.

    The DRC maintains that not all government agency processes that fill the gaps left by legislation are necessarily rules. It notes, for example, that the Secretary of State’s election manual details many mechanics of voting but isn’t submitted through the rules process.

    The Supreme Court will hear four cases on June 29. The Court will consider arguments in Jackson v. State and O’Neal v. State as well as two other appeals on June 30. Oral arguments begin each day at 9 a.m.

    The Court will hold its session by videoconference. The arguments will be streamed live online at sc.ohio.gov and broadcast live on the Ohio Channel, which also archives them.

    https://highlandcountypress.com/Cont...ial/2/73/69613
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  2. #32
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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