DOVER, Del. (AP) - The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that a man serving life without parole for the rape and murder of a 68-year-old woman has failed to offer any new evidence to prove his innocence.
The Delaware State News reports that the court ruled against Ambrose Sykes's motion for post-conviction relief.
Sykes, now in his 40s, was sentenced to death for the 2004 rape and strangulation of retired teacher Virginia Trimnell. Delaware abolished its death penalty in 2016, a decision that applied retroactively.
The court said Sykes' lawyer raised "speculative and implausible theories" about how someone else could have been involved in the crime, and speculated that Sykes had a consensual relationship with the elderly woman without so much as a sworn statement from Sykes himself.