Shawn Ford – black, age 18

Sentenced to death in Summit County, Ohio
By: judge; jury recommendation is unknown
Date of crime: 4/1/13
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Ford and his cousin, Jamal Vaughn, were convicted of killing the parents of Ford’s ex-girlfriend, Margaret and Jeffery Schobert. Vaughn pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in adult court, but could not receive a death sentence because he was 15 years old. Ford attacked his ex-girlfriend, Chelsea Schobert, on March 23, 2013, which sent her to the hospital for a month. Her parents tried to bar Ford from seeing her. So Ford and Vaughn beat Mr. Schobert 14 times with a sledgehammer. The men then waited for Mrs. Schobert to come home and struck her 19 times with a sledgehammer. Ford’s counsel tried to argue that he was ineligible for the death sentence because he was intellectually disabled, however, three experts stated that he did not meet the legal definition.
Sources: Cleveland Plain Dealer 6/26/15 (2015 WLNR 18818573), Cleveland Plain Dealer 6/30/15 (2015 WLNR 19436998)