LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted in the rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl.
The state Supreme Court announced Monday that it upheld a 14th Judicial District Court ruling that determined that Jason M. Reeves does not suffer from an intellectual disability. The condition would have prevented his execution.
The Lake Charles American Press (http://bit.ly/1eOXZNb) reports that Reeves was convicted in 2004 of abducting, raping and killing 4-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen in 2001. Then-District Attorney Rick Bryant said DNA from the semen taken from Thigpen's body matched Reeves' DNA.
Reeves was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2010. A judge signed a death warrant in 2012.
___
Information from: American Press, http://www.americanpress.com
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
