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Ohio Supreme Court Dismisses Convicted School Shooter's Appeal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has reversed course and decided not to hear an appeal by a convicted school shooter.

The court dismissed Ely Serna's case in an opinion Thursday that listed the case as "improvidently accepted," without further explanation.

Serna was sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for a 2017 shooting that critically wounded another teen at a high school in West Liberty, roughly 45 miles northwest of Columbus.

Serna was 17 at the time of the shooting. His lawyers argued that his age should have been taken into account in his sentencing for charges that included attempted murder. A state appeals court concluded the judge acted properly in his sentencing.

Prosecutors in Champaign County had argued that Serna's lawyers were making arguments already rejected by the appeals court and that the state's high court didn't need to get involved.

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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