Ohio man convicted in teen's beating death

LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — A southwest Ohio man convicted of participating in the fatal beating of a 16-year-old drug dealer has been sentenced to life in prison.

A jury today convicted Michael Watson in Lebanon of murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He was found not guilty of aggravated murder.

Watson’s co-defendant, Michael Geldrich, testified during the trial the two repeatedly beat Dione Payne last Dec. 1 when the teen wouldn’t give up his stash of money and drugs.

The two men then loaded Payne into a truck and drove him to a Middletown hospital, where Watson wheeled Payne into the emergency room before they drove off.

The Dayton Daily News reports Watson’s attorney argued that taking Payne to a hospital showed the men didn’t intend for him to die.