CLEVELAND — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine commuted Gregory Lott's death sentence to life in prison without parole on May 27, 2026. This was the first death row commutation issued by DeWine in his eight years as governor.

Lott, 64, was convicted of setting an 82-year-old East Cleveland man on fire during a home burglary in 1986. The victim, John 'Jack' McGrath, died in a Cleveland hospital's intensive care unit ten days after the incident. DeWine stated that the victim's family's opposition to the death penalty was a reason for the commutation.

The Ohio parole board recommended clemency for Lott in 2020 through a 6-2 vote. Prosecutors dropped their objections to his clemency in 2022. Federal public defender Stephen Ferrell commented on the timing of Lott's reprieve from execution in early 2020, which DeWine issued due to a lack of available drugs for lethal injection. "Despite the reprieve, they wanted to go ahead with the clemency proceeding, which I thought was very odd and made me very optimistic." Ferrell said. "The board was very receptive compared to very hostile, as they had been in the past."

Lott's execution had been postponed at least four times. In 2002, Lott's attorneys filed for relief after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing individuals with intellectual disabilities constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The Ohio Supreme Court denied his 2002 claim and established a standard for intellectual disability claims known as 'Lott's test'.

Lott has intellectual disabilities and scored between 77 and 97 on intelligence tests. In 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court revised the standard for intellectual disability claims, removing IQ scores as the sole criterion for rejection. Catholic pastor Luigi Miola stated that John McGrath's family opposed the death penalty based on their Catholic pro-life position.

Ferrell described the experience of his client facing multiple execution dates. "Otherwise, Greg Lott would have been executed a month later," Ferrell said. "To me, that epitomizes the arbitrariness of this system." Ferrell also commented on the long process. "I could see visibly what was going on, that he was either really hurting and anxious, or when we got good news, just how relieved he was," Ferrell said. "To torture someone like that year after year is unfathomable to me." Ferrell said. "It was a very convoluted path, and I genuinely feel for guys like Greg (Lott), who had real execution dates they were really facing," Ferrell said. DeWine declined to elaborate on his decision, stating, "I'm just not going to get into that today."