Austin Myers was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of Justin Back
According to court documents Austin Myers decided he wanted to rob his childhood friend Justin Back. Along with Timothy Mosely they would head to the Back residence where Justin invited them inside. Justin Back was stabbed nearly a hundred times and was shot.
Austin Myers would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Number
A710008
DOB
01/04/1995
Gender
Male
Race
White
Admission Date
10/17/2014
Institution
Chillicothe Correctional Institution
Status
INCARCERATED
Austin Myers Case
The Ohio Supreme Court took into account the fact that a man who plotted to rob and kill a childhood friend had just turned 19 years old at the time of the murder, but that was not enough to reverse the death penalty he received from a Warren County court.
The Supreme Court today unanimously affirmed the 2014 death sentence of Austin Myers, who, along with Timothy Mosley, strangled and stabbed to death 18-year-old Justin Back. The Court rejected Myers’ 18 objections, called propositions of law, to his conviction and sentence. The justices independently weighed the aggravating circumstances against mitigating factors, such as Myers’ age, a history of depression, and a lack of criminal record, before upholding the punishment.
Writing for the Court majority, Justice R. Patrick DeWine noted that Myers claimed he deserved a lesser penalty because Mosley, who had actually stabbed Back to death, had accepted a plea bargain that resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment. Justice DeWine wrote that it was Myers’ idea to kill Back, that Myers had planned the murder with Mosley, and that Myers had actively participated, including restraining Back, as Mosley strangled and stabbed him.
“We find that the mitigating factors collectively deserve, at most, modest weight in this case. Accordingly, we find that the aggravating circumstance outweighs the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt,” Justice DeWine concluded.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Terrence O’Donnell, Sharon L. Kennedy, Judith L. French, and Patrick F. Fischer joined the opinion. Eleventh District Court of Appeals Judge Cynthia W. Rice, sitting for former Justice William M. O’Neill, sided with the justices.
https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2018/SCO/0517/141862.asp
