High Court Rejects Ohio Killer's Last

Wednesday, January 15 2014, 04:40 PM MST

High Court Rejects Ohio Killer's Last-Minute Plea

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a condemned Ohio killer's last-minute appeal claiming a jury never heard the full extent of his chaotic and abusive childhood.

The court's ruling Wednesday moved death row inmate Dennis McGuire closer to execution Thursday for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart in Preble County in western Ohio.

The state plans to put McGuire to death with a never-tried combination of two drugs.

McGuire argued his original lawyers didn't investigate his background thoroughly and make the proper case to the jury.

The Ohio attorney general's office says McGuire's challenges to his sentence have spanned decades and failed. The office says the trial jury heard many details about McGuire's rough boyhood.

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, AP Legal Affairs Writer

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