© 2024 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Court Considers Appeal From Ohio's Only Female Death Row Inmate

ODRC

The Ohio Supreme Court is again considering a challenge by the state's only condemned female killer of her death sentence.

The high court has twice sent the case of Donna Roberts back to Trumbull County court in northeastern Ohio for resentencing.

The 72-year-old Roberts was sentenced to death for a third time in 2014. The Supreme Court planned to hear her new appeal Tuesday.

In the past, the court said that a prosecutor improperly helped prepare a sentencing motion in Roberts' case and that a judge hadn't fully considered factors that could argue against a death sentence.

Roberts was accused of planning her ex-husband's murder with a boyfriend in hopes of collecting insurance money.

The boyfriend, Nathaniel Jackson, also was sentenced to death in the 2001 slaying.

The AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers.