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AKRON (AP) -- A jury in Ohio has recommended the death penalty for a triple killer who lured victims with bogus Craigslist job offers.

The Akron jury that convicted 53-year-old Richard Beasley made its recommendation Wednesday after hearing from witnesses on his behalf. Beasley's mother and a psychologist portrayed him as a man suffering from depression and other problems after a troubled, abusive childhood.

The self-styled street preacher was convicted of teaming up with a teenager in 2011 to lure men with offers of farmhand jobs in southeast Ohio and to rob them. Three men were killed, and a fourth was wounded.

Beasley's co-defendant, then 16, was too young to face the death penalty. Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on his conviction last year.

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN

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