LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Supreme Court has again rejected a post-conviction appeal by a man on the state's death row for raping and killing a teenage newspaper carrier in western Nebraska in 2003.
Jeffrey Hessler, of Gering, argued in his appeal that Nebraska's capital punishment procedure is unconstitutional and that a lower court was wrong to dismiss his appeal without an evidentiary hearing. The state's high court on Friday said the lower court was correct to rule that Hessler's appeal was barred under the statute of limitations.
Hessler was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to die for kidnapping, rape and the shooting death of 15-year-old newspaper carrier Heather Guerrero. She was delivering newspapers on her morning route just blocks from her home when Hessler grabbed her and forced her into his car.
A jury found that Hessler took her to an abandoned house at nearby Lake Minatare, raped her and then shot her in the head on Feb. 11, 2003. Guerrero's body was found the next day at the house, about 12 miles from where she disappeared.
His conviction and death sentence were upheld on direct appeal in 2007, and the high court has rejected all of his post-conviction appeals.