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Supreme Court Sets Execution Date In 25-Year-Old Conviction
By: Associated Press
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The Ohio Supreme Court has set a 2017 execution date for a death row inmate sentenced to die more than 25 years ago.
Records show that Melvin Bonnell shot 23-year-old Robert Bunner in his Cleveland apartment on Nov. 28, 1986, in front of Bunner’s two roommates. Bonnell was sentenced to die in 1988.
The court ruled 6-1 Tuesday to set Bonnell’s execution date for Oct. 18, 2017. Records show the results of DNA testing in 2009 indicated the victim was the source of blood on Bonnell’s jacket.
The 57-year-old Bonnell is one of 17 inmates with execution dates beginning next year, including six in 2017. No executions were scheduled this year to give the Ohio prisons department time to find new supplies of lethal injection drugs.