Supreme Court rules against Fort Worth man on death row

The Supreme Court has ruled against a Fort Worth death row inmate who said his lawyers failed to challenge a faulty jury instruction at his trial and on appeal.

The justices ruled 5-4 on Monday that Erick Davila could not bring a claim that his appeals lawyer was ineffective for failing to challenge the work of his trial lawyer.

During arguments before the Supreme Court in April, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued against granting Davila an additional appeal, saying that ruling in the man's favor would open up federal courts to appeals cases that lack merit.

“It is not a good use of judicial resources,” Keller told justices.

Houston attorney Seth Kretzer argued in favor of Davila, saying the standard for an additional appeal would remain high if the court ruled in his client's favor.

Davila was convicted in 2009 of the shooting deaths of 5-year-old Queshawn Stevenson, and her grandmother, Annette Marie Stevenson, 48, on April 6, 2008 at a children’s birthday party in the Stop Six neighborhood in southeast Fort Worth.

Prosecutors said Davila was trying to shoot someone else as part of a gang dispute.

Davila claimed the jury should have been instructed it could find him guilty of both murders only if he meant to kill two people. He said he only meant to kill one.

This report contains information from The Associated Press and Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Supreme Court rules against Fort Worth man on death row."