By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence of a man who once told a judge he wanted to plead guilty to a double murder and be sentenced to die.
Richard Strong told a judge in 2002 he wanted to plead guilty to killing his girlfriend and her young daughter.
Eva Washington and her child were killed in October of 2000. Washington was stabbed 21 times with a butcher knife in a St. Louis suburb. Her daughter was stabbed 12 times.
Strong was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder.
In the appeal Strong argued various points, including claiming the court improperly allowed some evidence.
The state said it handled the trial correctly.