(March 26, 2007)--A 33-year-old man set to die this summer for murdering his ex-girlfriend in Muleshoe lost a US Supreme Court appeal Monday.

Gilberto Guadalupe Reyes is scheduled for execution on June 21 for the death of 19-year-old Yvette Barraz.

Justices refused without comment to review Reyes' case.

His attorneys argued that he had ineffective legal counsel at his trial.

They specified that his inhalant abuse as a teenager and parental neglect and abuse as a child weren't investigated and presented to the jury.

Investigators say Barraz was abducted in March 1998 after leaving her job as a waitress at a restaurant in the small High Plains town in West Texas.

They say she was later beaten in the head with a hammer, raped and strangled.

Reyes' DNA was found on her clothing.

Court documents show Reyes and Barraz had dated for about eight months before their relationship ended in January 1998.

The slaying occurred some two months later.

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