The Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled an execution in 2024 for a death row inmate convicted of a 1996 killing that authorities say was race-related.
John Stojetz , who is white, was convicted of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Damico Watkins, who was black, at Madison Correctional Institution in 1996.
Prosecutors say Stojetz has exhausted all his legal options and is also not part of a bigger lawsuit challenging Ohio's lethal injection protocol.
Defense attorneys say setting a date now serves no purpose for the criminal justice system, the families involved or Stojetz.