The high court unanimously upheld the death penalty for Christopher Whitaker, 49, who grabbed Alianna after she departed an RTA bus on the way and used power tools to torture and kill her.
CLEVELAND, Ohio— The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence for the man who kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed 14-year-old Alianna DeFreeze on her way to school in 2017.
Whitaker’s attorney, Jeffrey Gamso, argued that Whitaker’s attempt to plead guilty showed he accepted responsibility for the crime and that he showed remorse, both factors that could play into whether the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravated circumstances in the case. Whitaker kidnapped Alianna on Jan. 26, 2017, as she transferred busses near East 93rd Street and Bessemer Avenue in the city’s Kinsman neighborhood. Whitaker grabbed her and forced her into an abandoned building.
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