11 April 2019 :

Maurice Mason, 55, Black, gets 26 years to life. Mason was sentenced to death in Marion County in 1994 for murdering and raping Robin Dennis, 19, White, whose body was found days after she went missing in February 1993 in an abandoned building. In 2008, Mason's legal team won him an opportunity for a new sentence when one of his appeals succeeded before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal court of appeal ruled Mason had ineffective legal help during the penalty phase of his trial. That new sentence was delivered Monday in a Marion County courtroom, and it did not include the death penalty. Marion County prosecutors — with the Travis' permission — took the death penalty off the table in an agreement with the defense and in an effort to put an end to the more than 25-year-old case. On Monday, Marion County Judge William Finnegan accepted the prosecutors' and defense attorneys' recommendation and sentenced Mason, in all, to 26 years to life in prison for Dennis' rape and murder. It is unclear exactly when Mason, who has been in prison since July 1994, will become eligible for parole, but he could be eligible as early as next year.