Northeast Texas Man On Death Row Loses Federal Court Appeal

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a Northeast Texas man on death row for strangling his girlfriend 17 years ago. Attorneys for Daniel Acker, 45, unsuccessfully argued to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he’s innocent of the March 2000 slaying of Marquetta George, 32, of Sulphur Springs. They also contended Acker’s trial court erroneously excluded evidence of his innocence, that appeals he previously lost were based on false evidence and that he had poor legal help in earlier appeals. George’s body was found on a Hopkins County road. Trial attorneys said she jumped from Acker’s truck and then was hit. Prosecutors said he killed her and dumped her body. A jury deliberated 90 minutes before convicting him. Acker doesn’t yet have an execution date.