HOUSTON (AP) — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected an appeal from Houston man who challenged the validity of his conviction and death sentence for the slaying of his police informant girlfriend 12 years ago.

The state's highest criminal court in a brief ruling Wednesday turned down 40-year-old Pete Russell Jr.

Russell was convicted of fatally stabbing, slashing and stomping 40-year-old Tanjala Brewer in 2001 in retaliation for her tip to police that led to his arrest on a drug charge. Testimony showed he used her blood to scrawl, "She is the devil. I am God," on a door at her Houston home.

Russell previously served eight years in prison for trying to kill a man. He was awaiting trial for threatening to kill another when Brewer was slain.


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