Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson threw out a jury's...

Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson threw out a jury's recommendation of death for twice-convicted killer Timothy Hancock after he discovered that they had viewed potentially inflammatory exhibits in deciding the inmate's fate. Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson instead sentenced Mr. Hancock to life in prison without parole in the November 2000 strangulation of his cellmate Jason Wagner at Warren Correctional Institution. Judge Bronson said his staff "inadvertently and inappropriately" gave the jury pictures of Mr. Wagner taken after his death, the ligature used to strangle him and audiotapes of Mr. Hancock's 2 statements to investigators to review during their deliberations on Mr. Hancock's sentence. That information may have prejudiced the jury's decision, the judge said. "I should be overseeing it," the judge said later about the exhibits that go to a jury. "It's my fault."