Supreme Court orders resentencing for killer of Lancaster man
The Ohio Supreme Court today ordered the resentencing of an inmate who
strangled his cellmate, a Lancaster man who kidnapped and molested a
3-year-old girl and stashed her in an attic in 1999.
The justices unanimously upheld the aggravated murder conviction of
Timothy Hancock and, in a 4-3 ruling, ordered him resentenced for killing
Jason Wagner, 25 on Nov. 13, 2000.
Wagner was serving 44 years to life for the kidnapping and attempted
murder of a Lancaster girl he snatched from her back yard. Police found
the girl bound with duct tape and hidden in the attic of Wagner's home 4
days later on April 29, 1999.
Hancock, 35, admitted strangling Wagner at the Warren Correctional
Institution near Lebanon after the man allegedly bragged about molesting
the girl.
A jury recommended the death penalty for Hancock, but a Warren County
judge imposed a life sentence without parole after discovering the jury
had viewed exhibits he deemed prejudicial during sentencing-hearing
deliberations.
An appeals court later reinstated the jury's lethal-injection
recommendation and the judge imposed the death sentence.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that the jury's original death sentence
recommendation was invalid and ordered a new sentencing hearing for
Hancock.
(source: The Columbus Dispatch)
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