USA - Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court has set aside the death penalty for Rayshawn Johnson

The Ohio Supreme Court has set aside the death penalty for Rayshawn Johnson. Johnson, 37, Black, was convicted of killing Shanon Marks with a baseball bat in 1997. He was sentenced to death in 1998, but appealed in 2006. At that time, a federal court agreed with Johnson that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel during the mitigation phase of his trial and instructed the state to either commute Johnson's death sentence or hold a new mitigation hearing. A new jury recommended death again in January 2012. In Tuesday's decision, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Johnson's arguments, but in an independent investigation, found that that the aggravating circumstances in the case were not outweighed beyond a reasonable doubt by the mitigating factors. According to the Court, Johnson’s dysfunctional, troubled background was entitled to significant weight as a mitigating factor when evaluating the death sentence. The Court also gave some weight to several other issues. The court set aside the death penalty in a 4-3 vote. The case will return to the trial court for resentencing.