Man convicted of killing Ohio student gets death sentence

TOLEDO, OHIO — A man convicted nearly three decades ago of abducting a woman riding her bicycle was sentenced to death Wednesday in the 2016 abduction and killing of a student who was bicycling alone near her home.

A Fulton County judge upheld a jury’s death penalty recommendation for James Worley after they convicted him last month in the death of 20-year-old University of Toledo student Sierah Joughin.

She was found dead in a cornfield three days after she was last seen two years ago in July.

Prosecutors used DNA evidence to show that Worley and Joughin were both alongside a rural road where her bicycle was found, inside his barn near Delta, Ohio, and where her body was discovered.

Just before he was sentenced, Worley spent 45 minutes explaining why he couldn’t have been the killer and said prosecutors ignored evidence that could have cleared him.

He told prosecutors they should look for another man who was seen in the area the night Joughin disappeared. He also claimed that someone placed his motorcycle helmet at the spot where investigators believe Joughin was abducted.

“Before you judge me harshly think about some of these things,” he said. “There will be an appeal process. I just have to pray that I will be vindicated.”

Worley began by turning toward where Joughin’s family and others in the courtroom and said he was heartbroken for them.

“Her loss is a substantial blow to everyone,” he said.

Joughin’s family walked out of the courtroom midway through Worley’s statement, shortly after he called her “a beautiful girl.”