Child Rapist And Murderer Denied Appeal For Life By U.S. Supreme Court

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Another sex offender and murder in Texas tries to defend his horrific crime, only to be rejected by the United States Supreme Court, allowing corporal punishment once again, to do its job.

More than 13 years ago while 7-year-old Nicole Benton was celebrating her daddy's birthday in the Houston area, she disappeared from the festivities after Eric Nenno, now 46, lured her away from the party. She was found two days later in the attic of Nenno's home beaten, strangled and raped.

The violent sex offender and murder, who lived down the street from the young girl in his families home, had confessed to having sexual fantasies with little girls.

TXCN reports that

Eric Nenno, 46, had asked the high court to review last summer’s rejection of his appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He argued the silence of a polygraph examiner after he took the lie detector test improperly coerced him into making an incriminating statement that led to the discovery of the dead girl’s body in the attic of his home in Hockley, about 30 miles northwest of Houston.

That’s where her body was found and Nenno was arrested. She had been raped repeatedly and choked to death.

In his state and federal appeals, Nenno contended the silence was an improper tactic and any statements resulting from it should not be allowed as evidence. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the lower federal appeals courts said the polygraph was not unlawful and statements were not the result of coercion.

In his original trial, Nenno's defense was that he had no previous convictions or history of violence and that he was under the influence of multiple substances. Neither proved substantial, as Nanno received the Death Penalty.

Fast forward to March, 2008, where the US Supreme court, the final appeals authority, puts its foot down and confirmed Eric Nenno's conviction and sentence.