A SELF-STYLED street preacher was sentenced to death today in the killings of three down-and-out men lured by bogus job offers posted on Craigslist.

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

Beasley, 53, 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. He listened to the verdict with his head on his chest, sitting in a wheelchair he uses for back pain.

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

Beasley’s co-defendant, who was 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.

Fresh start in life

One victim was killed near Akron, and the others were shot at a southeast Ohio farm during bogus job interviews.

The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Virginia; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio. All were looking for a fresh start in life, prosecutors said repeatedly during the trial.

The survivor, Scott Davis, now 49, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in an arm, knocked the weapon aside, fled into the woods and tipped police.

Beasley didn’t turn around to watch Davis tearfully denounce him and thank the judge for handing down the death sentence.

Davis said he was grateful to be alive and told the relatives of slain victims, “They didn’t deserve what this animal did to them.”

Debra Bruce, Pauley’s twin sister, choked back tears as she told Beasley, “You took my best friend, confidant and my twin.”

Bruce said she was sickened by references to Beasley as a preacher or chaplain. “No true man of God would take lives,” she said.

Execution

The jury recommended execution after hearing two hours of testimony from witnesses, including Beasley’s tearful mother, who were called to portray him sympathetically and press for leniency.

Carol Beasley testified that her son had a troubled childhood and suffered physical abuse by his stepfather. She also said she learned within the past year that her son had been sexually abused by neighbourhood youngsters.

The defence also called a psychologist, John Fabian, who testified that Beasley suffers from depression, alcohol abuse, low self-esteem and a feeling of isolation, all possible results of a troubled, abusive childhood.

Beasley will become the seventh person from Summit County currently on Ohio’s death row.

- AP