Adams gets 20 years to life for 1985 slaying

YOUNGSTOWN — Bennie Adams said this morning at his resentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court he did not kill 19-year-old Gina Tenney in 1985.

However, Judge Lou D'Apolito said the evidence from Adams' 2008 trial is "overwhelming" as he resentenced Adams to 20 years to life in prison for the Dec. 30, 1985 murder of Tenney.

Adams was sentenced to death after his trial by Judge Timothy Franken but the sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court because they said prosecutors could not prove the crime of aggravated burglary, which was needed as an aggravated specification to allow Adams to be eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors read a statement from Tenney's sister before the sentence was handed down. She said Adams had no right to take her sister's life.

Tenney's body was found on the West Avenue bridge. He was not indicted until 2007 after the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation linked DNA from the crime scene to Tenney.

The sentence is the only sentence Adams was eligible to receive.