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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man convicted of killing his girlfriend with a sword lost an appeal Friday before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The court agreed with the conviction of Christopher Edwards, rejecting his arguments that prosecutors used manufactured evidence planted by a former crime scene investigator who served prison time for evidence tampering in a different case.
Edwards is serving 100 years to life in prison for the 2006 murder of 19-year-old Jessica O'Grady, whose body was never found. He has maintained his innocence and argued that David Kofoed, former commander of Douglas County's crime scene investigation unit, planted some of the evidence used to convict him.
Kofoed was convicted in 2010 of tampering with evidence in a double slaying in which two men were wrongly charged and spent months in jail. Kofoed's conviction has prompted courts to review other cases in which he was involved.
In 2012, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the Douglas County court should permit Edwards an evidentiary hearing on his claims that he was framed. A judge later rejected those claims, saying Edwards' attorneys provided no evidence of tampering at the scene of O'Grady's death.
Investigators say O'Grady's blood soaked a mattress, streaked the ceiling and dotted a headboard, alarm clock, clothes basket and other items in Edwards' basement bedroom.
The judge noted that even before Kofoed arrived at the scene, investigators had found O'Grady's blood in the bedroom, in Edwards' car trunk, on a sword blade and on the handle of pruning shears.
The court also rejected Edwards' claim that his trial attorney, Steve Lefler, had a conflict of interest, because Lefler also served as Kofoed's defense attorney. Lefler has said he had no knowledge that Kofoed's integrity was in question until Kofoed asked for representation more than a year after Edwards' trial.
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