Man on death row for 1984 SMU slaying loses appeal

Appeals court upholds death sentence for man convicted of SMU student's 1984 rape-slaying

Published On: Mar 06 2013 11:26:27 AM CST
Donald Bess
HOUSTON -

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death sentence of a 64-year-old man convicted of the 1984 rape-slaying of a Southern Methodist University student at her off-campus condo.

The state's highest criminal court, ruling Wednesday in the case of Donald Bess, rejected 52 claims of error at his 2010 trial, including challenges to jury selection and instructions, expert testimony and sufficiency of the evidence.

Bess already was serving life in prison for a 1985 Harris County rape when DNA testing in 2008 matched him to the long-unsolved murder of Angela Samota. Samota's sorority sisters from SMU had asked police to re-examine her death.

The DNA technology wasn't available at the time of her slaying.

Bess does not have an execution date and still can appeal to federal courts.

Photos: Death row inmates

Published On: Aug 30 2012 03:17:31 PM CDT   Updated On: Apr 10 2013 12:02:31 PM CDT

Take a look at the men and women on Texas' death row and find out what they did to get there.

Daniel Acker
1 / 283
TDCJ

Daniel Acker kidnapped and killed a 32-year-old woman in Hopkins County.

  • Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.