Ohio Supreme Court refuses to review 1992 murder case

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a Youngstown man who appealed his conviction for the July 22, 1992, murder of his estranged wife.

In dismissing the matter last week, the top court let stand the 7th District Court of Appeals decision that upheld Robert E. Wilson’s conviction for the murder of Tonya Wilson on the basis that the evidence was “sufficient and persuasive.”

Wilson argued unsuccessfully that another man fired the fatal shot and that his conviction was against the weight of the evidence.

Tonya Wilson died of a bullet wound to the back of her neck when she was shot in her car on Stansbury Drive on the city’s North Side.

In 1993, Wilson, then 25, drew 24 years to life in prison for murder with a gun specification, unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance, illegal gun possession and drug abuse.

Saying the merits of Wilson’s prior appeal and request for a new trial were never considered, the 7th District Court took the unusual step of accepting the long-delayed appeal in 2008.