"THE TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS RULING WEDNESDAY COMES IN THE CASE OF 38-YEAR-OLD LARRY SWEARINGEN, SENT TO DEATH ROW FOR THE ABDUCTION AND MURDER MELISSA TROTTER. THE COURT SAYS EVEN IF IT GRANTED SWEARINGEN'S REQUEST, OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE POINTING TO HIS GUILT LIKELY WOULD NOT CHANGE HIS TRIAL'S OUTCOME. A FEDERAL APPEALS COURT A YEAR AGO SPARED SWEARINGEN A DAY BEFORE HE WAS SCHEDULED TO DIE."
REPORTER MICHAEL GRACZYK: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
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BACKGROUND: Larry Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of Melissa Trotter in 1998. Melissa Trotter went missing on 8 December 1998. Larry Swearingen was arrested three days later, and has been incarcerated ever since. The body of Melissa Trotter was found in a forest on 2 January 1999. Larry Swearingen was tried for her murder, and sentenced to death. He maintains his innocence of the murder. Several forensic experts have provided statements and testimony that support his claim. One of these experts, Dr Joyce Carter, is the former Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County in Texas who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at Larry Swearingen’s trial that in her opinion, Melissa Trotter had died 25 days before her body was found. In an affidavit signed in 2007, Dr Carter stated that she had looked again at the case and changed her opinion. She concluded that Melissa Trotter’s body had been left in the forest within two weeks of it being found. If accurate, this would mean that the body was dumped at a time when Larry Swearingen was already in custody.
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"HOUSTON — A man condemned for killing a 19-year-old Montgomery County college student has lost an appeal for additional DNA testing of evidence," the Associated Press reported earlier today in a story by reporter Michael Graczyk which ran on Statesman.com under the heading "Condemned killer of college student loses appeal."
"The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling Wednesday comes in the case of 38-year-old Larry Swearingen, sent to death row for the abduction and murder Melissa Trotter," the Associated Press story continues.
"The court says even if it granted Swearingen's request, overwhelming evidence pointing to his guilt likely would not change his trial's outcome.
A federal appeals court a year ago spared Swearingen a day before he was scheduled to die.
Trotter's body was found in January 1999 in the Sam Houston National Forest south of Huntsville nearly a month after she last seen leaving a college library near Conroe.
The story can be found at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/condemned-killer-of-college-student-loses-appeal-225705.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
