Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Associated Press
AKRON
The father of one of three men lured by Craigslist job offers and murdered had Tuesday’s sentencing date for the killer etched in his mind: 16 months to the day his son’s body was identified.
Jack Kern, father of Timothy Kern, 47, and relatives of other victims of Richard Beasley, 53, crowded a courtroom Tuesday to hear whether he must face execution, but the case was delayed by an attorney’s illness.
Beasley, wearing a red and white striped jail outfit, clutching a cane and sitting in a wheelchair he uses because of back pain, kept his chin on his chest as he was wheeled into court after a 90-minute delay to hear the postponement.
Family members, briefed in private by prosecutors about the delay, are expected to return for the sentencing rescheduled for April 4.
Last week, the jury that convicted Beasley of murder recommended that he be executed. Judge Lynne Callahan has the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison.
Co-defendant Brogan Rafferty, who was 16 at the time of the crimes in 2011, was sentenced by the same judge last year to life without parole. Because of his age, he wasn’t eligible for the death penalty.