Judge deciding life in prison or death for killer of 11

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Judge deciding life in prison or death for killer of 11

The Associated Press Published Friday, August 12, 2011 6:27AM EDT

Anthony Sowell sits in the courtroom before the jury recommended the death penalty for him in Cleveland, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011. (AP / The Plain Dealer, Marvin Fong)

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CLEVELAND - A judge in Cleveland must decide whether to impose the death penalty for a man convicted of killing 11 women and dumping their remains around his home.

Jurors who recommended death on Wednesday said they would attend Friday's sentencing for 51-year-old Anthony Sowell.

Judge Dick Ambrose has two options: execution by lethal injection or reducing the recommended sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Such a reduction has happened eight times since Ohio reinstated capital punishment in 1981 and never for anyone convicted of killing multiple victims.

Sowell was arrested on Halloween 2009, two days after police went to his house on a sexual-assault complaint and began finding bodies.