Ohio Execution of John Drummond Rescheduled from April 21, 2022 to, April 16, 2025

John Drummond, Ohio

Updated: Monday, April 18, 2022

John E. Drummond was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Mansfield, Ohio. His execution has been rescheduled to April 16, 2025. Forty-four-year-old John is convicted of murdering three-month-old Jiyen Dent, Jr., on March 24, 2003, in Youngstown, Ohio. John has spent the last 18 years on Ohio’s death row.

John Drummond was raised in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents divorced in 1991, however, he had a relatively stable childhood and both parents were involved in his life growing up. John joined the Lincoln Knolls Crips gang at the age of 13 and eventually dropped out of school. He claimed he left the gang at the age of 19. John had previously been convicted of abusing cocaine.

In May 1998, John Drummond’s fellow gang member and friend Brett Schroeder was killed by gunfire. The perpetrator was arrested and sentenced to prison, where he was still serving his time in March 1998.

In late March 1998, Jiyen Dent Sr, along with his girlfriend Latoya Butler, and their son, Jiyen Dent, Jr., moved into a home in Youngstown, Ohio. Drummond and his friend Wayne Gilliam attended a party on the evening of March 24, 2003. They were overheard talking about someone new moving into the neighborhood “who could have had something to do with the death of Brett Schroeder.” Drummond was heard saying “it’s on” at the end of the conversation.

Drummond left the part, returning a short time later carrying an assault rifle. Drummond and Gilliam then left the party in Gilliam’s vehicle. Five to 15 minutes later, 11 shots were fired from an assault rifle into the home of the Dent family. Then 9mm rounds were fired into the home, and into the home next door. Baby Jiyen was in the living room and was fatally shot in the head. The Dent family had not known Drummond, Gilliam, on Schroeder.

That night while investigating, police found Drummond and Gilliam standing next to their car in a driveway near the Dent house. They were later identified as suspects and arrested a few days after the shooting.

Drummond denied having anything to do with the shooting when police questioned him. However, while in jail, he frequently spoke about the case, saying he “didn’t mean to kill the baby.”

Drummond was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Wayne Gilliam was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 54 years to life in prison for his part in the crime.

In 2013, Drummond was convicted in the 16-year cold-case murder of Ronald Maceo Hull. Ronald was severely beaten, pistol-whipped, and ultimately murdered with a 9mm handgun in 1997. Drummond received a sentence of life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 23 years.

This is not Drummond’s first execution date. For the last several years, Ohio has struggled to obtain execution drugs and decide upon which drugs to use for executions. This has resulted in an unofficial moratorium on executions in the state. Read more about the challenges Ohio has been facing regarding executions in the state here. Therefore, since Ohio schedules executions years in advance, execution dates are rescheduled. John Drummond’s execution is rescheduled to April 16, 2025.

Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Jiyen Dent and Ronald Hull. Pray for strength for the family of John Drummond. Pray that if John is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be provided before his execution. Please pray that John may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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