CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Republicans want to make politically motivated killings a death-penalty offense in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, carving out a special class of murder that critics warn is both dangerous and unworkable.
Representatives Jack Daniels of Summit County and Josh Williams of Lucas County have introduced a bill to expand the state’s aggravated murder statute, which already covers killings during another felony, murders of children under 13, and the slayings of law enforcement or first responders.
Their proposal would add elected officials and classify politically driven killings as aggravated murder, making them eligible for capital punishment.
On cleveland.com’s Today in Ohio podcast, hosts castigated the plan as a misguided “knee-jerk” reaction.
Host Leila Atassi cut to the heart of the matter.
“Why is killing someone for their politics any worse than killing them for money or jealousy or revenge?” she asked. “Isn’t all murder an attack on society, or is this just a political response to a political crime? And if we go down this path, are we setting up a system where some lives are implicitly treated as more valuable than others?”
The discussion quickly turned to practicality. Lisa Garvin highlighted the problem of proving motive: “Courts will determine whether or not the crime is politically motivated. Do we trust their judgment?”
Atassi pointed out a key fact that seems lost on the Republicans pitching this bill — motivation remains murky in both Kirk’s killing and last summer’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Even the bill’s deterrent value was questioned. Laura Johnston pressed: “Do you think that the threat of punishment is what’s keeping people from doing this more often? Like, ‘Oh, well, I was gonna kill them, but now that it’s a death penalty case, I’m not.’ Is that going to deter anyone?”
Atassi agreed, noting that assassins often expect to die themselves, comparing it to a suicide bomber’s mindset.
Beyond the bill’s flaws, the hosts argued Ohio’s death penalty system is already broken.
“It’s very expensive. We rarely apply it. We haven’t been able to source the drugs for the death penalty in years. And it’s under constant legal challenge,” Atassi said.
To her, the proposal represents raw emotion, not sound governance: “I feel like this really is one of those political knee-jerk reactions where… you draw the death penalty into it. We’ve now ratcheted up the emotions to a level 10. And there needs to be some level-headed thinking around this issue right now.”
Listen to the full discussion here.
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