Overturned convictions upheld in 1992 Ohio slaying

CINCINNATI (AP) — An appeals court has upheld the overturned convictions of two men once sentenced to death for killing a 10-year-old boy in Cincinnati.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ rulings focused on whether Darryl Gumm and Michael Bies received fair trials, not whether they were innocent.

At issue in the court’s Monday decisions was the 1992 beating death of Aaron Raines in an abandoned building after the boy refused to perform a sexual act.

The court upheld a lower court’s finding of evidence withholding and prosecutorial misconduct in Gumm’s case and evidence withholding in Bies’ case.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, which could appeal, is reviewing the decisions.

Both men’s death sentences were overturned on the grounds they were mentally disabled.