Prosecutor seeks review of death penalty decision

COLUMBUS (AP) -- A prosecutor asked the Ohio Supreme Court on Friday to reconsider its decision to throw out the death sentence and conviction of a man accused of killing two college students.
The court ruled 7-0 on Dec. 1 that authorities made a mistake in trying Terrell Yarbrough in Ohio for the 1999 killings of Brian Muha, 18, of Westerville, and Aaron Land, 20, of Philadelphia, both students at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
The court said the two should have been tried in Pennsylvania where they were killed.
Argument
But in a motion filed Friday, former assistant Jefferson County prosecutor Christopher Becker argued that a homicide occurred in Ohio if any part of the victim's body is found in the state, according to state law. Becker, now an assistant prosecutor in Trumbull County, said drops of blood from both victims were found in Ohio.
Becker said the law doesn't put any minimum on the amount of blood.
The students were robbed and kidnapped at their apartment in Steubenville, but were shot execution-style 12 miles away along a western Pennsylvania highway.
A jury found Yarbrough was the triggerman. His accomplice, Nathan Herring, 23, is serving life in prison without parole.
The Supreme Court upheld robbery, kidnapping and burglary convictions because those crimes happened in Steubenville and said nothing would prevent a Pennsylvania court from trying Yarbrough on murder charges.