Execution date set for Ohio killer

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled an execution nearly five years in the future for a man convicted of a 1996 killing.

Death-row inmate John Stojetz, who is white, was convicted of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Damico Watkins, who was black, at Madison Correctional Institution on April 25, 1996, in what authorities called a race-related slaying.

Madison County Prosecutor Stephen Pronai argued Stojetz has exhausted all his legal options and is also not part of a bigger lawsuit challenging Ohio’s lethal injection method.

Defense attorney Michael Benza has said that setting a date now serves no purpose for the criminal justice system, the families involved or Stojetz.

The Supreme Court on Friday set an execution date of March 14, 2024.