Court throws out decision reversing death sentence

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says a lower court was wrong when it threw out the death penalty and conviction of a man accused of beating his roommate and burying him alive.

The court on Monday issued an unsigned opinion that reverses the dismissal of Archie Dixon’s death sentence.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said Dixon’s confession was coerced by police.

Dixon was to be executed by the state of Ohio for the 1993 slaying of Christopher Hammer. Hammer was beaten and robbed on Sept. 22, 1993, and then was driven to a remote area, where he was buried alive in a shallow grave.

The Ohio Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence, a decision the Supreme Court said must be respected.

The case is Bobby v. Dixon, 10-1540.