Ohio Supreme Court won't delay execution date of Youngstown man

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to delay the execution of Mark Aaron Brown of Youngstown, which is scheduled for Thursday at Lucasville.

The state’s top court released its decision late this afternoon in a terse one-paragraph statement.

Also late this afternoon, the 7th District Court of Appeals in Youngstown announced that oral arguments on whether Brown will get a new trial in the 1994 double murder case will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday before Judges Gene Donofrio, Cheryl Waite and Mary DeGenaro.

The judges will hear Brown’s appeal of the decision by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court not to grant him a new trial.

The Ohio Public Defender’s Office asked for a new trial based on what it said was new evidence, but Judge Sweeney found two witnesses who recanted their trial testimony not to be credible.

A jury convicted Brown of the Jan. 28, 1994, murders of Isam Salman, owner of the Midway Market on Elm Street, and Hayder Al-Turk, a clerk in that North Side convenience store. Both victims were shot in the head.