COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati and Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus are among 10 Catholic church leaders in Ohio who have signed a statement urging the state to stop using the death penalty.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Ohio put eight people to death last year, the most since 1949.
The Catholic bishops' statement comes as Democratic state Rep. Ted Celeste of Grandview Heights plans to introduce legislation aimed at abolishing the death penalty.
That idea recently got support from former state prisons director Terry Collins and Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who called for an end to capital punishment in Ohio.
Pfeifer, a Republican, helped write Ohio's death penalty law three decades ago but says the recent decrease in death sentences shows society believes life sentences are punishment enough.
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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com