The Associated Press

A man sentenced to execution in Ohio for having killed a woman is entitled to a hearing on his claim that a trial lawyer didn't do enough to try to prevent his death sentence, an appeals court panel ruled Thursday.

The 2-1 ruling in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati grants Maurice Mason a hearing in U.S. District Court in Toledo unless the state appeals. The appeals court's ruling leaves intact Mason's conviction for aggravated murder, but gives him an opportunity to challenge his death sentence.

Mason, 39, was convicted in 1994 in Marion County for killing Robin Dennis, 19, while raping her. Her body was found in an abandoned building five days after she disappeared on Feb. 8, 1993. She had been beaten in the head and her skull had been fractured, investigators said.

No execution date has been set.

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro is reviewing the appeals court's ruling and hasn't decided whether to challenge it, spokeswoman Kim Norris said.

Mason's lawyers said in their appeal that his trial attorney didn't investigate his family background and life history to develop evidence that could have persuaded the jury to give him life in prison, instead of death. Mason was beaten by his father, his parents were drug users and he became a drug user himself, the defense said.

In a dissent to the appeals panel's ruling, Judge Danny Boggs said he would have denied Mason a hearing. Boggs said Mason's trial lawyer apparently made a strategic decision not to tell the jury about Mason's life history and that the strategy backfired.