Ohio Jurisdiction of Death Penalty Appeals Amendment (1994)

Ohio Jurisdiction of Death Penalty Appeals Amendment
Election date November 8, 1994
Topic Civil and criminal trials and Death penalty
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Ohio Jurisdiction of Death Penalty Appeals Amendment was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Ohio on November 8, 1994. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported removing jurisdiction from the courts of appeals to review death penalty cases and granting direct review by the state Supreme Court.

A "no" vote opposed removing jurisdiction from the courts of appeals to review death penalty cases and granting direct review by the state Supreme Court.

Election results

Ohio Jurisdiction of Death Penalty Appeals Amendment
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		2,199,791	70.14%
No		936,323	29.86%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Jurisdiction of Death Penalty Appeals Amendment was as follows:

“

To amend Sections 2 and 3 of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio To change the procedure for appeals of cases in which the death penalty is imposed, this amendment will: Remove jurisdiction from the courts of appeals to review death penalty cases on direct appeal. Provide for direct appeals of death penalty cases to the Ohio Supreme Court from the courts of common pleas or other courts of record inferior to the court of appeals. Apply to cases in which the death penalty is imposed for offenses committed on or after January 1, 1995. If adopted, this amendment will be effective January 1, 1995. Shall the proposed amendment be adopted?

”

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Ohio Constitution

A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Ohio State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 60 votes in the Ohio House of Representatives and 20 votes in the Ohio State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

See also

1994 Measures

• 1994 Measures
• State judiciary on the ballot
• Death penalty on the ballot
• Civil and criminal trials on the ballot
• 1994 legislative sessions

Ohio

• Ohio ballot measures
• Ohio ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Cleveland State University Law Library, "Ohio Constitution - Law and History: Table of Proposed Amendments," June 2, 2023