USA - Ohio. Judge Tom Parker sentenced Shawn Ford to death

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tom Parker sentenced Shawn Ford to death. He upheld the October 31, 2014 jury's recommendation. Ford, 20, Black, was convicted of beating his girlfriend's parents to death with a sledgehammer. The jury recommended he be given the death sentence for the April 2013 killing of 59-year-old Margaret Schobert. The jury split its decision, recommending that Ford be given life in prison without parole for the slaying of 56-year-old Jeffrey Schobert. Prosecutors said Ford and a 14-year-old boy killed the Schoberts in their home because they kept Ford from seeing their daughter after he severely beat her. They said the Schoberts' killings came 10 days after Ford stabbed and critically injured their daughter for refusing him sex. The teenage boy charged in the case is awaiting trial.