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Jury ponders ‘Craigslist killer’ sentence

AKRON, Ohio, March 20 (UPI) — Jurors in Summit County, Ohio, deliberated Wednesday afternoon to recommend if convicted “Craigslist killer” Richard Beasley should receive the death penalty.

The 12-member jury convicted Beasley, 53, a week ago on 26 counts for killing three men and wounding a fourth during a three-month span in 2011.

The men, lured by advertisements on the website Craigslist for a farm caretaker, were killed in the Akron area, the Akron Beacon Journal reported Wednesday.

The jury received the case after closing arguments ended. The jurors must decide to recommend life imprisonment or the death penalty, WEWS-TV, Cleveland, reported.

Defense attorney Larry Whitney told jurors of Beasley’s abusive childhood as a mitigating factor.

“There was physical abuse. There was psychological abuse. It went on and on and on,” he said.

Beasley’s mother Carol also took the stand to explain the physical abuse at the hands of her second husband, adding, “I love Richard with all my heart.”

Paul Scarsella of the Ohio District Attorney’s Office told the jurors, “If you honestly, truly look at the evidence and follow the law, there is only one verdict and that’s the death penalty.”

Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).

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