Man Convicted In 1984 SMU Murder Loses Appeal
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HOUSTON (AP) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused an appeal from a 67-year-old man on death row for the 1984 rape-slaying of a Southern Methodist University student at her off-campus condo.
The ruling Wednesday from the state's highest criminal court upholds findings of the Dallas County trial court in the case of Donald Bess.
Bess already was serving life in prison for a 1985 Harris County rape conviction when DNA testing in 2008 matched him to the long-unsolved murder of 20-year-old Angela Samota.
The DNA technology used for his trial in 2010 wasn't available at the time of her slaying.
Bess had been on parole about seven months when Samota was killed.
He does not have an execution date and could still file appeals in the federal courts.
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