Baby killer denied high court review

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The U.S. Supreme Court will not review the case of a convicted baby killer on death row since 2004.

John Drummond, 41, of Youngstown, in March filed a request for the high court’s consideration and was denied this week, according to court filings.

Drummond killed 3-month-old Jiyen Dent Jr. when he and another man fired an assault rifle and handgun into two East Side homes in 2003. The infant was in a baby swing in the living room of one of the homes.

Drummond, a member of the Lincoln Knolls Crips gang, believed the home’s residents were involved in a gang-related shooting death five years prior.

Drummond was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to death. Another man involved in the shooting was handed a 50-year prison sentence.

The Ohio Supreme Court upheld Drummond’s murder conviction and death sentence in 2006.

In 2016, Mahoning County prosecutors pushed to set an execution date for Drummond, which has been set for April 21, 2022.