05 May 2020 :

Parole Board Recommends Life Without Parole For Gregory Lott. The state parole board is recommending Gov. Mike DeWine commute an East Cleveland killer’s death sentence to life in prison without parole. The board voted 6-2 for mercy for Gregory Lott, now 58, Black, who killed John McGrath by setting him on fire after breaking into McGrath’s house in July 1986. McGrath died 10 days later. McGrath's grandson offered a statement to the board saying his family opposes the death penalty, which was cited by several parole board members who voted for clemency. One parole board member felt it had been demonstrated that Lott is intellectually disabled, but the 2 who voted against clemency felt the opposite, and cited that as a reason why they voted the way they did. Lott’s execution had been scheduled for August 2019, but on March 7, 2019, DeWine issued a reprieve and rescheduled the execution for March 12, 2020. Citing the unavailability of execution drugs, Gov. DeWine granted Lott a 2nd reprieve on January 31, 2020 and set a new May 27, 2021 execution date. DeWine has the final decision on clemency. No executions have proceeded since DeWine took office last year – he’s said the state has had trouble finding drugs to carry out lethal injections.