Ohio Supreme Court To Hear Appeal From Former Death Row Inmate

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear arguments next year in the appeal of a former death row inmate trying to clear his name in a pair of slayings he didn't commit. Dale Johnston of Grove City was sentenced to die in 1984 for the shooting deaths of his teenage stepdaughter and her fiance two years earlier. The case against him fell apart on appeal, and he was freed in 1990. Another man confessed in 2008 to killing the couple. Two years ago, a Franklin County judge declared the 81-year-old Johnston innocent in the slayings, allowing him to seek compensation from the state. The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will hear Johnston's case on March 11. The state opposes Johnston's efforts to be compensated.