Texas Executes Man for Murder Conviction Whose Alibi Was That He Was Already Incarcerated
Texas killed a man who maintained his innocence over a capital murder conviction for a 1998 murder on Wednesday. Larry Swearingen, 48, and his legal team fought hard to overturn his conviction for the strangling death of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. His lawyers said that the court’s decision was based on circumstantial evidence and “junk science.”
Multiple forensic scientists found that Trotter was likely killed more than a week after Swearingen was arrested for unrelated traffic warrants, meaning that he allegedly could not have killed Trotter because he was already in jail. His last appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday evening.