Richard Beasley, suspect in Craigslist killings, could face the death penalty if convicted

Prosecutors say Beasley plotted with a teenager

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Suspect in Craigslist killings, Richard Beasley, could face the death penalty if convictedcould.
Photographer: Courtesy: WEWS
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Posted: 03/12/2013

By: Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A self-styled street preacher accused in a deadly plot to lure men with Craigslist job offers in Ohio and then rob them has been found guilty of aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.

   A jury in Akron returned the verdict Tuesday in the case against Richard Beasley.

   Two men from Ohio and one from Norfolk, Va., were slain. A man from South Carolina was shot but survived.

   Prosecutors labeled the 53-year-old Beasley the triggerman in the 2011 plot with a high school student, who was convicted and sentenced last year to life in prison without the chance of parole. The teenage co-defendant had said he feared for his safety if he didn't cooperate with Beasley.

   Beasley's lawyers had said investigators targeted him based only on a hunch. They said the identity theft and robbery motives prosecutors offered were baseless.