PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A 34-year-old man will spend his life behind bars following a second murder conviction for the death of a woman outside a bar on Black Friday in 2010 in Lake County.
Joseph L. Thomas has been sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional 36 years for the murder of 49-year-old Annie McSween.
The clip below is from the News 5 archives and shows Thomas on trial in 2012.
McSween’s body was found on Black Friday in Mentor-On-The-Lake just a short distance from a bar she worked at in the 5600 block of Andrews Road. Authorities say Thomas attacked and murdered McSween as she was leaving work.
Thomas as arrested in 2011. He was tried and convicted in 2012 and sentenced to death but later ordered to have a new trial.
RELATED: Ohio court hears appeal of killer who stabbed bartender
On Thursday, a jury found him guilty of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence—a verdict that came without the death penalty this time.
