DeWine changes execution dates for two death row inmates

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Gov. Mike DeWine has issued reprieves for two death row inmates who were scheduled to be executed early next year.

The governor has ordered that Antonio Franklin and James Trimble's execution dates will each be pushed back three years. Franklin's date of execution is now set for Feb. 15, 2029, from Feb. 11, 2026, and Trimble's new date of execution is now March 14, 2029, from March 12, 2026.

This is the second time DeWine has given a reprieve for Franklin, who was sentenced to death in Montgomery County in 1998 on aggravated murder. Trimble was admitted into the Ross County Correctional Institution in 2005 and sentenced to death for three counts of aggravated murder, according to Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC).

As of August 2025, there were 113 death row inmates in the state, according to the DRC. No executions have taken place in this calendar year.

Elected officials in the Ohio Statehouse made renewed calls to abolish the death penalty in January. A previous report on that can be seen in the video player above.