A Texas death row inmate who's been linked to more than a dozen other slayings and who has claimed to have committed as many as 70 murders around the country has lost a federal court appeal, moving him closer to execution.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal from 49-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells. The court this week also refused Sells' request for more than $60,000 to investigate evidence showing he should have received a sentence less than death.
Sells was condemned for slashing the throats of two girls at their home near Del Rio in South Texas in 1999. A 13-year-old, Katy Harris, was killed. Her 10-year-old sister survived.
Sells has called himself "Coast to Coast," a reference to where he says he's committed murders.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
