(March 28, 2008)--An appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Texan condemned for killing a man who once took him in and stealing his car.
A jury in Sulphur Springs convicted Joseph Ray Ries of capital murder.
Jurors then decided Ries, who's from the Commerce area, should die for the 1999 slaying of 64-year-old Robert Ratliff of Cumby.
Lawyers for Ries told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that his trial attorneys and an earlier appeals attorney were ineffective.
Evidence showed Ries, who's now 28, had a history of being physically and sexually abused as a child and had been in eleven foster homes.
Another 19-year-old at the time, Christopher Lee White, was convicted of murder in the case and got life in prison.
Ries lived with Ratliff months earlier, but the older man kicked the teen out after some items turned up missing.
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