COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 9 (UPI) -- A man convicted of a 1989 double murder who was scheduled for execution in Ohio next week has been spared the death penalty.
Gov. John Kasich commuted Shawn Hawkins' sentence to life with no possibility of parole Wednesday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Hawkins had been set to die by lethal injection Tuesday but will instead be transferred to a state prison.
Hawkins, now 42, has maintained he did not kill Diamond Marteen and Terrance Richard. He admitted setting up a drug deal, saying the couple were friends of his who wanted to buy a pound of marijuana.
Marteen and Richard were found shot dead in a car in June 1989 in Mount Healthy, a small city near Cincinnati.
"There is no doubt that the defendant played a significant, material role in this heinous crime, but precise details of that role are frustratingly unclear to the point that Ohio shouldn't deliver the ultimate penalty in this case. Therefore, I am ordering that he spend the rest of his life in prison and have no chance of ever getting out."
Hawkins told the newspaper he knew the news was good when the warden came to his cell. He said he was "relieved" to be spared execution and hopes to be free eventually.
