La. Supreme Court affirms death sentence for Derrick Todd Lee

NEW ORLEANS – Derrick Todd Lee, accused in a string of murders that terrified southern Louisiana and prompted a police dragnet of DNA samples, was legitimately convicted and sentenced to death for one of those murders, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
Lee has been linked to seven killings and one attack. He was convicted of two killings and sentenced to death in one case – that of 22-year-old Charlotte Murray Pace, whose roommate found her body in their Baton Rouge apartment on May 31, 2002.
No execution date has been set for Lee, who can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and pursue other federal claims after that.
Jelpi Picou, director of the Capital Appeals Project, said Lee’s attorneys were disappointed but had not had time to consider the 60-page ruling and a 40-page concurring opinion in detail.
They may ask for a rehearing by the Louisiana Supreme Court, and will go to the U.S. Supreme Court if they don’t do that, or if their request is rejected, he said.