The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal from a 56-year-old Houston man on death row for the rape and fatal beating of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter 16 years ago.
The high court made no comment Monday in rejecting the case of Kerry Dimart Allen.
Allen's attorneys had argued that his lawyers at his Harris County trial in 2001 were deficient and that Texas, its death penalty law and the trial court's actions during jury selection all violated Allen's constitutional protections.
Allen already was a convicted sex offender when he was arrested for the May 2000 slaying of Kienna Lashay Baker. He'd been living with the child's mother and watched her four children when she went to work.
Allen does not yet have an execution date.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
