Plea agreement reached in Justin Back death case

A Clayton man agreed today to plead guilty as charged in the murder of Justin Back, 18, of Wayne Twp., in exchange for avoiding the death penalty in the case.

Timothy Mosley, 19, agreed to the plea agreement through which he also agreed to testify against Austin Myers, 19, the other defendant in a capital murder case. Myers is scheduled to go to trial Monday in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

Mosley and Myers are accused of strangling and stabbing Back to death in January during a burglary at his home, east of Waynesville.

They are then accused of dumping Back's body in woods in Preble County, after shooting it and dousing it with septic system enzymes designed to hasten the decomposition of the body. Back was about to enter the U.S. Navy.

During Wednesday's hearing, Judge Donald Oda II advised Mosley that the judge was not bound by the agreement between his lawyers and prosecutors, except he could no longer be sentenced to death. The agreement calls for Mosley to be sentenced to life without parole.

No date has been set for Mosley to enter the plea or be sentenced. Oda told Mosley he would be expected to testify in the Myers trial as part of the plea agreement. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell and Mosley's lawyer, Dennis Lieberman, declined comment.

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