Supreme Court won’t review inmate sentence in Ohio prison riot murders

COLUMBUS (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court won’t reconsider the case of a death row inmate convicted in the slayings of five fellow inmates during the 1993 prison riot in Ohio.

Keith LaMar, 48, was convicted of aggravated murder in 1995 for the deaths of five inmates during an uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution at Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the five killings.

Justices rejected LaMar’s petition today.

LaMar wanted his case reconsidered in light of the high court’s ruling last year that found Florida’s death-penalty scheme unconstitutional.

Justices in that case said Florida’s system gave judges too much power and juries not enough power to decide capital cases. LaMar argued the new standard should also apply to his case, since Ohio’s scheme is similar.