COLUMBUS, Ohio -  The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Youngstown man who murdered a disabled woman he briefly lived with, then tried to kill her mother, and set them both on fire.

A majority of justices on Wednesday rejected the claim of Lance Hundley that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the November 2015 murder of Erika Huff, the attempted murder of her mother, and arson.

Writing for the Court, Justice Sharon L. Kennedy stated that “Huff’s death was the result of a well-thought-out plan and the attack was drawn out,” said Justice Sharon Kennedy who authored the court’s opinion.

Hundley, now 50, has been on death row since he was sentenced for murdering Huff at her Cleveland Street home in Youngstown on November 6, 2015.

Investigators say Huff, who suffered from MS and was wheelchair-bound, pushed her medical alert button on the night of her murder.

Police later learned that Huff had been beaten to death before her home was set on fire to cover the crime.

Authorities say Hundley also attacked Huff's mother, Denise Johnson, with a claw hammer outside of the home.

The blow was so severe, the hammer broke off on Johnson’s head. Hundley had a knife to her throat, and he attempted to kill her by burning the house down, but she still managed to survive.

The Court conducted an independent review to determine if the evidence supported the jury finding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating factors to justify a death sentence. 

Experts found that Hundley did not suffer from a mental illness.

The Court also concluded the penalty was appropriate in this case.

 

Lance Hundley
Lance Hundley