By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer.com • October 10, 2008 Judges overturn death sentence Rayshawn Johnson should not be put to death for killing a woman with a baseball bat in 1997 because his defense attorneys botched part of his case, a Cincinnati federal appeals court ruled Friday. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with an earlier decision to overturn Johnson’s death sentence for the beating death of Shanon Marks. • Read the decision The appeals court criticized Johnson’s lawyers, one of whom was later suspended from practicing law, for “bungling or sheer laziness” that resulted in a jury recommending Johnson be executed. Attorney Pete Pandilidis was criticized by the federal appeals court judges, as was attorney Chuck Stidham, for not...
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