LIMA — The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a Lima man facing execution for the 2002 murders of two girls in an execution-style shooting of eight people, exhausting Cleveland Jackson's final appeal.
The Allen County Prosecutor's Office will now ask the state to set an execution date for Jackson.
Jackson was convicted in the deaths of Leneshia Williams, 17, and Jala Grant, 3. He and his half brother, Jeronique Cunningham, went to a Eureka Street apartment to rob a man of drugs and money. Eight people were inside the apartment at the time.
The two men lined the eight up inside the kitchen and shot all eight, including six of the victims in the head, as the victims begged for their lives. Two died. Cunningham also is on death row and is appealing his case.
Jackson's lone chance to avoid the death penalty now is seeking clemency through Gov. John Kasich's office.
Jackson’s death sentence is for the murder of Williams. Another court set aside the death sentence on Jala Grant’s murder, saying Jackson’s attorneys were not allowed to question potential jurors on how they felt about a person who kills a 3-year-old and what penalty that person should receive.
Read more about this story in Thursday's The Lima News.
