USA - Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the death sentence of Bennie Adams is invalid

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the death sentence of Bennie Adams is invalid because prosecutors failed to prove he committed aggravated burglary during the crime, The 5-2 decision said that because the burglary evidence wasn't proved at trial, defendant Adams can't face the death penalty again when his case goes back to a judge for re-sentencing. Adams, 58, Black, was long a suspect in the Dec. 30, 1985 rape and murder of Gina Tenney but was not charged until October 4, 2007 when DNA evidence was submitted for updated testing procedures. He was Sentenced to death on October 30, 2008. Prosecutors never settled on where the attack happened and never distinguished between trespass and aggravated burglary in allegations that Adams had gone into Tenney's apartment afterward, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said, writing for the majority. Tenney, 19, lived in an apartment above Adams. Her body was discovered in the Mahoning River on Dec. 30, 1985. At the time, Adams was preliminarily charged with receiving stolen property because Tenney's ATM card was discovered in his jacket, though he was never indicted. A year later, he was convicted of kidnapping, rape and aggravated robbery in an unrelated case, according to Thursday’s court decision. He served nearly 18 years in prison before he was released in 2004.