Katrina Evacuee Loses Death Penalty Conviction

HOUSTON (AP) _ The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Louisiana man sentenced to death for the robbery-slaying of a Houston-area woman.

The victim, 77-year-old Betty Blair, had been helping Roosevelt Smith Jr. after he fled his home state from Hurricane Katrina.

The 45-year-old Napoleonville, La., man is on Texas death row for strangling Blair in October 2005 at her home in Pasadena, a Houston suburb.

On Wednesday, the top criminal appeals court in Texas rejected arguments that the judge at Smith’s Harris County trial improperly allowed into evidence a videotaped confession that he contends was involuntary and coerced.

Smith also argued there were problems with jury selection, jury instructions and admission of autopsy photos.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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