Sentenced to death for killing 3 in Craigslistplot

AKRON, Ohio -- A self-styled street preacher was sentenced to death yesterday in the killings of three down-and-out men lured by bogus job offers posted on Craigslist.

The jury that convicted Richard Beasley, 53, of murder recommended that he face execution. The judge had the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison.

Beasley was convicted of teaming up with a teenager in 2011 to use the promise of jobs on a southeast Ohio farm to lure them into robberies. Three men were killed, and a fourth who was wounded testified at Beasley's trial.

The judge read the three death sentences in a hushed courtroom crowded with victims' relatives, some of them holding back tears.

Beasley skipped the chance to speak to the judge before the sentencing on the aggravated murder convictions. Seated in a wheelchair he uses for back pain, he heard the verdict with his head on his chest.

Later, about to be sentenced on other crimes including kidnapping, he said he sympathized with the families of victims but said he was innocent and expects to have his conviction overturned on appeal.

"I have killed nobody, and that's a fact. This case will be reversed," said Beasley, whose statement was cut short by the judge. She said he could comment on the sentencing only.

Beasley's co-defendant, 16 at the time of the crimes, was too young to face the death penalty. Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on his conviction last year. -- AP