A three-judge panel has denied the appeal of a Wellsville man sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2021 shooting death of an East Liverpool man.

The Seventh District Court of Appeals has issued an opinion denying the appeal of 27-year-old Tyrell Travers who was convicted of murder and aggravated murder for the shooting death of Dion McMillion, 27, in East Liverpool. 

Travers claimed in his appeal that his legal counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion alleging that he was not given a speedy trial.  However, the appeals court found that the trial judge would have denied such a motion because the prosecutors request for a delay was reasonable.

Travers was sentenced to the maximum sentence, life in prison without the possibility of parole. Part of the reason for the severity of the sentence was due to Travers having another person buy a gun for him even after the murder. 

Authorities say McMillion's body was found in his car in May of 2022. He had been shot several times. 

At the time of the shooting, friends of the victim told 21 News that McMillon had moved from New Jersey to Ohio to turn his life around. He was a father of a two-year-old when he died.