US Supreme Court reinstates Ohio death sentence

COLUMBUS (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence of a Cleveland-area man who fatally shot a neighbor and a police sergeant in 1994.

The court’s ruling today reverses a decision last year by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which had said jurors were improperly instructed to rule out the death penalty before considering a prison sentence for Harry Mitts.

Mitts killed John Bryant at the apartment complex where they lived, then killed Garfield Heights Sgt. Dennis Glivar when police responded to the shooting.

Attorney Jeffry Kelleher says the 58-year-old Mitts’ will now seek clemency from Gov. John Kasich. He says the decision was not surprising after a similar ruling in another Ohio case last year.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine expressed satisfaction with the ruling, calling Mitts’ crimes “abhorrent.”