WARREN Court upholds death sentence

DNA tests confirmed Stanley Adams raped a 12-year-old girl.
COLUMBUS -- Stanley T. Adams of Warren remains on death row after the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously upheld Wednesday his conviction and death sentence for the 1999 killing of a mother and her 12-year-old daughter.
"Adams chose to rape and murder an innocent 12-year-old child, who was the half-sister of his own girlfriend," wrote Chief Justice Thomas Moyer in the high court's decision. "His acts clearly demonstrate that the death penalty is appropriate."
Adams, who had lived with the victims for several months earlier that year, was convicted of the robbery and aggravated murder of 43-year-old Esther Cook and the rape and aggravated murder of Ashley Cook.
Adams asked the trial court to spare his life on behalf of his sons, and his brother told the court of the abuse Adams and other family members suffered at the hands of their father.
"As to the aggravated murder of Esther Cook, we find beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating circumstances of murder during a burglary and as a course of conduct outweigh the mitigation presented in this case," wrote Justice Moyer in the court's decision. "Adams feloniously entered Esther's home and savagely and brutally beat her to death, and he did so as a part of a course of conduct involving Esther's murder and the murder of her 12-year-old daughter.
"When considering Ashley's murder, we also find beyond a reasonable doubt that the multiple aggravating circumstances, murder during a course of conduct and murder during a burglary and during rape, as well as murder of a child, outweigh the mitigating features that Adams presented."
On the night of the crime, Adams left a crack cocaine party and later returned with a blood-stained roll of money and blood on his clothes, according to Supreme Court documents.
The next day, neighbors admitted seeing the car Adams had been driving at the home the night of the murders, according to Supreme Court documents.
Evidence
DNA tests on semen found in the young victim's body were attributed to Adams by several doctors in the field, according to court documents.
Adams denied committing the crimes, but admitted tripping over the bodies and running out of the house without calling police.
A Trumbull County jury convicted Adams on multiple counts, and a judge adopted the jury's recommendation of a death sentence.
Adams' attorney's claimed 17 errors in his case. The Supreme Court turned down all but one.
The high court agreed his conviction and death sentence for the kidnapping of Ashley should be set aside because there was no evidence he moved the young victim from one location to another.
The court, however, denied the remaining 16 arguments, including the claim Adams did not receive a fair trial because of extensive media coverage and the judge's refusal to move the trial to a different location.
Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor LuWayne Annos presented oral arguments on the case before the Supreme Court. She said that while the ineffectiveness of counsel arguments were standard and necessary arguments for Adam's attorneys to make, she did not believe there was an ineffectiveness of counsel.