19 March 2010 :

A jury recommended the death sentence for serial killer Anthony Kirkland for the killing of teenagers Casonya "Sharee" Crawford, 14, black, in May 2006 and Esme Kenney, 13, white, on March 6, 2009. Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Kubicki, Jr. set the actual sentencing on March 31. Kirkland, 41, black, previously pleaded guilty to murder and corpse abuse in the June 2006 killing of Mary Jo Newton, 45, white, and in the dec. 2006 killing of Kimya Rolison, 25, black. Those cases did not carry the death penalty. Because of an evidentiary ruling by the Court, the jury will not hear testimony nor see evidence regarding a Sept. 10, 1987 conviction of Kirkland. In that case, Kirkland was convicted of raping, murdering and then burning the body of Leola Douglas, 28 on June 17, 1987. He served 16 years for that crime and was released in Sept. 2003.