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Court upholds Johnson County death penalty case
Updated: Thursday, 12 Jul 2012, 4:00 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 12 Jul 2012, 4:00 PM EDT
INDIANAPOLIS (Daily Journal) - The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago affirmed the death sentence of 45-year-old Michael Dean Overstreet on Wednesday by a 2-1 vote, 24-Hour News 8's news partner the Daily Journal reports.
Overstreet was convicted of abducting, raping and murdering 18-year-old Kelly Eckart in 1997. The Franklin College student disappeared, and her body was later found in a ravine in Brown County.
Eckart had been strangled and had a bullet wound in her head.
The court rejected Overstreet's arguments that his lawyers should have protested the presence of spectators wearing buttons supporting the victim and didn't present adequate evidence of his mental illness.
After unsuccessfully appealing to the Indiana Supreme Court in 2007 and now to the federal courts, Overstreet's next option is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If all of his appeals were to be denied, the execution would be rescheduled.
Overstreet's final option would be to ask the governor of Indiana to change his sentence from death to life in prison.
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