Prosecutors push for execution in local death penalty case

Warren County prosecutors today urged the Ohio Supreme Court not to reconsider the death penalty ordered and scheduled for Austin Myers, 23, of Clayton.

Myers is one of the youngest people on the state’s Death Row.

RELATED: Defense wants Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider death penalty decision

“A motion for reconsideration ‘shall not constitute a re-argument of the case,’” the prosecutors’ motion said. “Myers’ motion does just that.”

Earlier this month, the court affirmed the death penalty for Myers for the stabbing death of childhood friend Justin Back at his home outside Waynesville in January 2014.

At the time, Myers was the youngest on Ohio’s Death Row.

He is still apparently the second youngest 3 1/2 years after being sentenced for the murder of Back, 18, of Wayne Twp.

Myers was sentenced to death on Oct. 16, 2014, for Back’s murder during a robbery.

RELATED:Witness admits stabbing victim 21 times in death penalty case

Another Clayton man, Timothy Mosley, actually stabbed Back to death, but he was sentenced to life in prison without parole in exchange for his testimony.

In response to the high-court ruling, lawyers for Myers motioned for the court to overturn the conviction and call a new trial “or in the alternative that his sentence be modified to life without parole.”

RELATED: Local teen becomes Ohio’s youngest on death row

On Thursday, County Prosecutor David Fornshell and Assistant County Prosecutor Kirsten Brandt contested the arguments for the Supreme Court to take another look at the case.

The court also scheduled Myers’ execution for July 20, 2022.

His lawyers could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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