The Ohio Supreme Court has affirmed the 2018 murder conviction and death sentence for Lance Hundley for killing disabled woman Erika Huff and attempting to kill Huff’s mother in Youngstown in 2015.

In a case of death and deception, Hundley, 50, killed Huff, 41, at her Cleveland Street home and attempted to kill Huff’s mother, Denise Johnson, after Johnson responded to a call for help from Huff’s medical alert necklace.

Hundley was living with Huff, who had a child with Hundley’s brother.

But A’Shawntay Heard, Huff’s nurse aide, had become concerned about Hundley’s behavior on Nov. 5, 2015, and placed the cash from Huff’s monthly disability check underneath Huff’s thighs that day to protect it.

Heard also gave Huff her personal phone number, which was against company policy, because Heard felt that “something was going to happen,” according to court doucments.

Heard said Hundley had been in and out of Huff’s house all day, and it was making her feel uncomfortable.

At 2:01 a.m. the next morning, Huff’s medical alert necklace was activated, and an ambulance was dispatched to Huff’s home. Emergency medical technicians responded.

It was Hundley who opened the front door and said the alarm was accidentally triggered, and there was nothing wrong. The ambulance squad left.

But the medical response company also called Johnson. When she arrived, she found Hundley standing in the home with a gasoline can, and asked Hundley where her daughter was.

Johnson picked up the gasoline can and took it to the garage. Upon re-entering the house, Hundley attacked her and hit her repeatedly with a hammer.

During the attack, Hundley also grabbed a kitchen knife and held it to Johnson’s face while choking her, causing her to lose consciousness, court documents say. When she regained consciousness, she was on the floor in Huff’s bedroom next to her daughter and saw flames nearby.

Just before 3 a.m. Youngstown police arrived and heard Johnson screaming for help, rescuing her from the house and seeing Huff’s body. Johnson had suffered multiple significant injuries.

They also found Hundley lying on the floor near the front door, hiding halfway underneath the dining room table. He claimed he had been “choked out” by a stranger the night Huff died and denied killing her.

At trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, a jury found Hundley guilty of aggrvated murder in Huff’s death, as well as attempted murder involving Johnson, and arson. Judge Maureen Sweeney sentenced him to the death penalty and 22 years on attempted murder and arson charges.

The state’s high court affirmed the jury’s finding that the aggravating circumstances of Hundley’s crimes outweighed mitigating factors to justify a death sentence. Hundley did not present mitigating factors at his trial, but the court examined reports from psychologists who interviewed Hundley, the ruling states.

Hundley had recently moved from Washington, D.C., at the time of the murder, and been living with his brother just before moving in with Huff.

erunyan@tribtoday.com