ELYRIA — Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski announced this morning that he will not sentence convicted killer Justin Chapman for a third time.

Chapman’s lawyer, Kenneth Lieux, had asked Betleski to remove himself from the case because of a 9th District Court of Appeals decision that said the judge appeared to have given Chapman a harsher sentence, 30 years to life in prison, because he took his case to trial after rejecting several plea offers from prosecutors.

Chapman has twice been found guilty of murder and other charges stemming from the April 26, 2005, shooting death of his friend, Darren English, during a botched robbery. The victim in the robbery, William “B.J.” Fiske III, was shot six times but survived.

Betleski said he believes he was fair to Chapman — the second time he imposed a sentence in the case, he gave Chapman a shorter prison sentence than he had following the first trial — but didn’t want to risk having the case overturned by the appeals court a third time.

The appeals court threw out Chapman’s original conviction because of concerns over a plea deal prosecutors cut with a co-defendant in the case.

A new judge will be assigned to the case.

Read Saturday’s Chronicle for more on this story.