Delay in likely death sentence
Wednesday’s scheduled death sentence hearing for twice-convicted murderer Rayshaw Johnson was delayed.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler wanted to ensure there are no issues with the case that could cause the sentence to be overturned. He noted at Wednesday’s hearing, after a jury recommended Dec. 7 that Johnson be sentenced to death, he had not yet read all 2,151 pages of transcripts from the original 1998 case.
"I apologize to the attorneys but I find it necessary to be very careful," Winkler said.
That’s because this was the second trial Johnson had on the charges. The first trial, in 1998, ended with the jury convicting Johnson of aggravated murder for the Nov. 12, 1997, beating death of Shanon Marks in her East Walnut Hills home. Johnson confessed to using a baseball bat to kill her during a robbery that netted him $50.
Johnson was sentenced to death in 1998 but 10 years later an appeals court ruled that Johnson’s 1998 lawyers did such a poor job of trying to save him from the death penalty during the sentencing phase of the trial that he should get a second trial -- but only on the sentence.
His murder conviction stood. After several days of testimony -- including from Johnson, his grandmother, mother and 14-year-old son who was one-month-old at the time of the mother, begging for jurors to spare Johnson’s life -- jurors again recommended a death sentence earlier this month.
That sentence has to be approved by the judge and that’s why both sides were in court Tuesday.
Winkler, though, said he needed more time to read the 11-volume transcripts from the 1998 trial before passing a sentence.
“I'm a pretty good reader but I have been unable to read 2,100 pages since Dec. 7," the judge said.
Johnson now will be sentenced Jan. 10. Johnson’s appeals, which have kept him alive for 14 years, will start anew after Winkler’s sentence.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...xt%7CFRONTPAGE
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