A state appellate court Wednesday affirmed a convicted murderer’s life sentence without parole eligibility.
A jury found Mahat Osman, 22, guilty of one count of murder, among other charges, in 2009.
In July 2013, “Osman filed an appeal with the Fourth District Court of Appeals in an attempt to merge his aggravated robbery and felony murder counts,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in the release.
Last week, the appellate court agreed with the lower court that Osman should spend the rest of his life in prison without the chance for parole.
Osman, a Columbus man, was accused of murdering Donnie Putnam, 39, with a firearm in 2009. His bond was set at $2 million, according to Athens County Common Pleas Court documents.
According to previous Post reporting, four men were indicted in connection with the murder of Putnam, who was shot to death with a 9MM weapon by gang members Feb. 15, 2009. Putnam was fatally shot in the chest during a drug dispute.
One article stated that one of the indicted, Eric Fussner, took a lie detector test during which he told investigators that he was forced to participate in the attempted robbery that led to the shooting and that he did not carry a gun.
Results of the test caused the charges against Fussner to be dropped.
The other men, including Osman, sold drugs before attempting to rob a home, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in the previous article.
“One of the would-be robbers shot Putnam in the chest when he arrived at the second house in the midst of the attempted robbery,” the article states. “(Putman) later died at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital.”
The court sentenced Osman to 28 years to life without eligibility for parole after 28 years, according to a news release from Blackburn’s office.
Although Osman originally appealed his conviction in the Court of Appeals in 2009, the case remained ongoing for the court to decide whether felony murder and aggravated robbery were “allied offenses,” the release states.
The state argued that if the two offenses were committed separately, involving two different victims, the consequences should not merge, which the Court of Appeals supported and took into account when affirming Osman’s sentence.
The court deemed the two crimes of separate victims, and overruled Osman’s “sole assignment of error and affirmed the trial court’s decision.”
Blackburn said he is “exceptionally pleased with the outcome of the case, and hopes that the victim’s mother can now find peace of mind knowing that his life sentence has been affirmed.”
@KellyPFisher
kf398711@ohiou.edu
This article appeared in print under the headline "Court confirms murderer’s life sentence, denies appeal"
