The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence handed down to a woman convicted of plotting to murder her husband in Howland in2001.

The court affirmed the sentence of Donna Roberts, who along with her lover Nathaniel Jackson, were convicted of killing Robert Fingerhut in Howland Township.

Both were sentenced to death for scheming to kill Fingerhut so Roberts could collect more than $500,000 in life insurance proceeds.

Roberts is scheduled to be executed on August 12, 2020.

According to court records, Roberts was having an affair with Jackson before he was sent to prison for a separate offense.

Investigators say the two communicated while Jackson was in prison.

When Jackson was released on December 9, 2001, Roberts was waiting to pick him up.

Two days later, Robert Fingerhut was found dead on the kitchen floor of his home. He had been shot several times.

In addition to letters and phone records gathered as evidence, investigators say Roberts bought Jackson a mask and gloves to wear while committing the crime, even allowing him into the home where the murder occurred.

Roberts was convicted of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary

In Tuesday's ruling, the justices rejected Roberts' claim that her sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

This is the third time Roberts has appealed her death sentence to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Court first sent Robert's case back to the trial court after learning that the judge had allowed the prosecutor's office to participate in drafting the judge's sentencing opinion.

The court returned Roberts' case to the trial court for a second time in 2013 after concluding that the trial court hadn't considered potentially mitigating information Roberts gave at her first re-sentencing hearing.

The Supreme Court ordered the trial court to consider the entire record when deciding again whether the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.

A new judge conducted the re-sentencing because the judge who originally heard Roberts' case had died.

The new judge determined that death was the appropriate penalty in the case.

In her appeal, Roberts maintained that the new judge couldn't properly consider all the evidence in the case because he wasn't present for any of her trial and didn't hear her statement firsthand.

In its latest ruling, the Supreme Court found that the trial court judge's decision was proper because he reviewed a written transcript of the case.

The Ohio Supreme Court has already refused to reconsider its earlier decision to uphold Nathaniel Jackson's sentence, which is scheduled to be carried out on July 15, 2020.

Roberts is the only woman on Ohio's Death Row.

The Ohio Supreme Court opinion and details of the murder may be read here