The state's high court revealed on Wednesday that it was rejecting the Mahoning County Prosecutor's motion to reconsider last year's ruling in the case of 58-year-old Bennie Adams.

In a 5-2 decision handed down last October,  the justices said that the state failed to prove that Adams committed aggravated burglary as part of his killing of Gina Tenney in 1985. A burglary conviction was needed along with guilty verdicts on rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges to qualify Adams for the death penalty, according to the ruling.

The prosecution argued that the bottom line is that the jury unanimously agreed that Defendant purposely caused the death of Gina Tenney while committing aggravated murder.

Prosectuor Paul Gains said that Adams,“essentially stalked his young neighbor until he eventually forced his way into her apartment, hit her, raped her, strangled her with a cord, tied her wrists, suffocated her, stole her car, dumped her body in the river, tried to get money from her bank account, returned to her apartment to steal her television, and cleaned up trace evidence with her potholder.”

The case has been sent back to Mahoning County for re-sentencing, which cannot include the death penalty.

Adams was long a suspect in Tenney's killing but was not charged until 2007 based on newly developed DNA evidence.