USA - Ohio. Judge Donald Oda II DID NOT sentence Jack Welninski to death

Judge Donald Oda II did not sentence Jack Welninski to death, but to life in prison without parole for murdering his cellmate in April 2018 at Lebanon Correctional Institution. “No one ever taught Jack Welninski the value of human life,” Oda said during a long explanation of his decision. On Friday, the jury found Welninski, 34, White, guilty of aggravated murder while at the prison outside Lebanon after just over an hour of deliberations. It deliberated about six hours before recommending the death penalty. Welninski was found guilty of the aggravated murder of Kevin Nill, 40. Oda ruled the mitigating factors outweighed those that would have prompted him to order the death penalty. “I choose life,” Oda said.