Ohio Supreme Court refuses to hear Antwon Lanier appeal

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Antwon Lanier of Youngstown, who was convicted of rape and complicity to the robbery, kidnapping and murder of Sierra Slaton, whose body was found floating in McKelvey Lake on Aug. 7, 2005, the day after she was fatally shot.

In refusing the hear the case Wednesday, the high court let stand the 7th District Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision to uphold the convictions.

After a jury trial, Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Lanier to 55 years to life in prison, and made that term consecutive to a 21-year prison term he had earlier imposed on Lanier in an unrelated armed robbery and felonious- assault case.

Judge Durkin sentenced Antonio Jackson, who fatally shot Slaton, to two consecutive life-prison terms after Jackson pleaded guilty in Slaton’s death and in the Nov. 20, 2005, drowning death of Tahnee Jackson (no relation) in a South Side creek.