STORY: "Judge sets fourth execution date for convicted killer," by reporter Renee C. Lee, published in the Houston Chronicle on December 20, 2012.
GIST: "The fourth execution date in five years has been set for death row inmate Larry Swearingen , convicted of killing a Montgomery County college student 14 years ago. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week denied Swearingen's latest claim of innocence, clearing the way for state District Judge Fred Edwards to sign an order for a Feb. 27 execution. A jury convicted Swearingen in June 2000 of the kidnapping, strangulation and sexual assault of Melissa Trotter, 19, who was last seen with Swearingen on the Lone Star College-Montgomery campus on Dec. 8, 1998. Authorities discovered Trotter's body in Sam Houston National Forest on Jan. 2, 1999. Swearingen, 41, has based his claims of innocence on insect and pathology evidence. His experts argued that the decomposition of Trotter's body suggested that she was killed and placed in the forest some time after Dec. 11, contradicting the prosecution's claim that she was abducted and killed on Dec. 8. His lead attorney, James Rytting, said Swearingen could not have killed Trotter because he was arrested and booked into jail on Dec. 11 on an unrelated charge. Rytting could not be reached for comment Thursday......... Swearingen also won reprieves in January 2007 and January 2009, each handed down a day before his execution."
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Judge-sets-fourth-execution-date-for-convicted-4135908.php
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
