CLEVELAND - A serial killer was sentenced to death yesterday for murdering 11 troubled women and scattering their remains around his property in Cleveland, horrors that shook the city over police handling of crime in poor neighborhoods.
Anthony Sowell, 51, sat impassively as Judge Dick Ambrose - accepting the recommendation of jurors who convicted Sowell of aggravated murder - announced 11 death sentences. The judge had the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison without chance of parole.
Sowell never looked at relatives as they spoke during the sentencing hearing. He ignored the judge when asked if he wanted to speak and again when asked to sign a legal document.
By law, Sowell’s conviction and death sentence will be automatically appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. That process could take 10 years or more, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason said.
Sowell was arrested on Halloween 2009, two days after police went to his house on a sexual assault complaint and began finding bodies. He went on trial in June and was convicted July 22 on 82 counts: aggravated murder, kidnapping, corpse abuse, and evidence tampering.
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