Court denies request to delay execution

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has denied the request of a death row inmate who wants his execution delayed so he can test new evidence and challenge a trial witness.

The court ruled Monday in Columbus to reject the request by 34-year-old Brett Hartmann, scheduled to die by injection April 7. It is the second time the court has refused a postponement request from Hartmann.

Hartmann says he is innocent and that a jailhouse informant committed perjury at his 1998 trial.

Hartmann was sentenced to death for the 1997 fatal stabbing and mutilation in Akron of his girlfriend, 46-year-old Winda Snipes.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh calls the perjury claim speculative and says there’s no proof that testing new evidence would exonerate Hartmann.