JACKSON - The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied a request by Luke Woodham to seek a post-conviction appeal, saying no new information was provided by Woodham, who was convicted of murdering his mother before going on to kill classmates at Pearl High School in 1997.
In 2001, the Supreme Court rejected Woodham's appeal of gunning down two students at Pearl High School.
He is serving two life sentences plus 140 years in prison after his 1998 conviction for the shootings that claimed the lives of his ex-girlfriend and another girl. Seven others were wounded in the shooting spree.
His mother, Mary Ann Woodham, was stabbed to death in the hours before the Oct. 1, 1997 high school shooting.
Woodham, now 21, was convicted in a separate 1998 trial and sentenced to life in prison. The Supreme Court also upheld that conviction in 2001.
Woodham petitioned the Supreme Court in October 2002 for permission to pursue a post-conviction appeal in Rankin County Circuit Court. Inmates use post-conviction petitions to try to convince a judge that new evidence has surfaced in their case that warrants a new trial.
A Jasper County judge denied the petition.
The Supreme Court, in an order signed Nov. 13 by Justice George C. Carlson Jr., said Woodham offered no information that would justify a hearing in trial court.
Carlson said some issues raised by Woodham were addressed when the Supreme Court upheld his conviction.
He said others could have been raised on appeal but were not and could not be pursued now.
Four issues, Carlson said, were new ones - including Woodham's age at sentencing and ineffective assistance of his lawyer - but ones justices did not believe Woodham could win.
In his original appeal, Woodham argued that his videotaped and written confessions were not voluntarily given.
Woodham said he was too young - 16 at the time - and mentally in shock and emotionally distraught to understand what he was doing.
Justices said in their decision that the court record revealed Woodham was read his rights three times. The court said Woodham signed the form acknowledging that he had been read and understood his rights.
The justices said there was no reason to believe Woodham's confessions were coerced.
Laurel attorney Leslie D. Roussell said he did not represent Woodham on the post-conviction petition. Roussell, who represented Woodham on appeals of the school shootings and Mary Ann Woodham's death, said Wednesday that he has not yet been asked by Woodham to pursue other appeals.
Woodham is serving his sentences at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
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