Ohio outlawed putting down household pets by suffocating them with gas鈥攐r any non-anesthetic inhalant鈥攍ess than a year ago, and all but a handful of lawmakers in both chambers backed that bill when it moved through the legislature in 2022.
With a GOP-backed bill introduced Tuesday to add hypoxia by nitrogen gas as a way of administering the death penalty, some Democrats have said it鈥檚 a double standard.
Senate Bill 164, which went into nine months ago, generally prohibits 鈥渁n animal shelter from destroying a domestic animal by the use of a gas chamber.鈥�
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), a longtime opponent of the death penalty, called the recently House Bill 392 鈥渂arbaric.鈥�
鈥淲e as the legislature said that is cruel and inhuman to do to an animal,鈥� Antonio said in an interview. 鈥淵et we have folks that are going to suggest that we do this to people on death row.鈥�
Ohio's recent law surrounding pet euthanasia doesn't directly name nitrogen gas. But guidance from the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2020 advised against using nitrogen hypoxia on any mammal aside from鈥攗nder some conditions鈥攑igs, turkeys and chickens, calling it 鈥渄istressing鈥� for the rest.
Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) is leading the legislative charge with Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) to add nitrogen hypoxia, or asphyxiation with nitrogen gas, as a proper secondary execution procedure. HB 392鈥檚 introduction Tuesday came just days after Alabama became the first state to execute a man using it.
Plummer voted for the animal cruelty bill last legislative session and said he believes it鈥檚 not a fair line to draw. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 apples and oranges, when you鈥檙e comparing dogs,鈥� Plummer said in an interview.
He thinks the focus is too often on death row inmates, he said, and not the victims and their families.
鈥淚 get tired of these liberals saying, 鈥極h, this person suffered and twitched,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲ell, I mean, when you stab someone 39 times and kill them, where is the compassion for that person?鈥�
So far, 11 other Republicans have signed on as cosponsors of HB 392. Each legislative chamber would have to pass any change to how the state administers the death penalty, since presently, the only codified method is lethal injection.
Witnesses to the Jan. 25 execution in Alabama said 58-year-old Kenneth Smith during the procedure, but state officials said it was 鈥渢extbook鈥� and that more than 40 other condemned inmates have asked for nitrogen gas as the means for them to be put to death.
