Setback for former death-row inmate

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

An appeals court has rejected an attempt by an ex-Ohio death row inmate to clear his name for a pair of slayings he didn’t commit.

Dale Johnston of suburban Columbus was sentenced to die in 1984 for the shooting deaths of his teenage stepdaughter and her fiance two years earlier.

The case against him fell apart on appeal and he was freed in 1990. Another man confessed in 2008 to killing the couple.

Two years ago a Franklin County judge declared the 80-year-old Johnston innocent in the slayings, allowing him to seek compensation from the state.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Franklin County overturned that decision by a 2-1 vote Thursday.

The state has consistently blocked Johnston’s efforts to be compensated.