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Home Tim Hancock Supreme Court orders resentencing for killer of Lancaster man Supreme Court orders resentencing for killer of Lancaster man
Monday, 24 July 2006
The Ohio Supreme Court today ordered the resentencing of an inmate who strangled his cellmate, a Lancaster man who kidnapped and molested a 3-year-old girl and stashed her in an attic in 1999.
The justices unanimously upheld the aggravated murder conviction of Timothy Hancock and, in a 4-3 ruling, ordered him resentenced for killing Jason Wagner, 25 on Nov. 13, 2000.
Wagner was serving 44 years to life for the kidnapping and attempted murder of a Lancaster girl he snatched from her back yard. Police found the girl bound with duct tape and hidden in the attic of Wagner's home 4 days later on April 29, 1999.
Hancock, 35, admitted strangling Wagner at the Warren Correctional Institution near Lebanon after the man allegedly bragged about molesting the girl.
A jury recommended the death penalty for Hancock, but a Warren County judge imposed a life sentence without parole after discovering the jury had viewed exhibits he deemed prejudicial during sentencing-hearing deliberations.
An appeals court later reinstated the jury's lethal-injection recommendation and the judge imposed the death sentence.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that the jury's original death sentence recommendation was invalid and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Hancock.
(source: The Columbus Dispatch)