RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Court of Appeals has upheld a man’s conviction in the 1975 rape and murder of an 88-year-old Emporia woman.
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The court on Tuesday rejected several claims raised by Thomas Pope Jr., who was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life plus 35 years in prison.
Another man, Curtis Jasper Moore of Emporia, was convicted in the strangulation of retired teacher Eva King Jones in 1978, but he appealed and prosecutors dropped the charges. Moore died in 2006.
Authorities say biological evidence collected during the investigation of the Jones killing matched DNA evidence taken from Pope after another conviction. The appeals court rejected Pope’s claim that evidence taken from Jones’ home was improperly handled and should not have been introduced.
