Iowa Judicial Building.
The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected the appeal in the first-degree murder conviction of a Davenport man in his fourth trial.
Stanely Liggins was found guilty in the 1990 death of nine-year-old Jennifer Lewis after her burning body was found in a field near Jefferson Elementary School in Davenport. The Supreme Court denied Liggins’ claims there was jury misconduct, due process violations, and some witness testimony should not have been included in his fourth trial.
Scott County Attorney Mike Walton is pleased with the court’s ruling and hopes it might end the case.”The legal proceedings will probably go on forever, or as long as Mr. Liggins is alive or incarcerated, but this ends the current matter. There are proceedings called post-conviction relief that can pretty much continue forever,” Walton says.
He credits the Davenport Police Department for its thorough investigation that made the latest conviction possible, and today’s court decision, 32 years after Lewis’ death. Liggins’ first two convictions were overturned. A third trial ended with a hung jury, and he was again convicted during a retrial in 2019.
(Thanks to WVIK, Rock Island)