DOVER, Del. (AP/WBOC)- The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that a man serving life without parole for the rape and murder of a 68-year-old woman has failed to offer any new evidence to prove his innocence.
The court ruled against Ambrose Sykes's motion for post-conviction relief.
Sykes, of Hartly, now in his 40s, was sentenced to death for the November 2004 rape and strangulation of retired teacher Virginia Trimnell. Afterwards, Her body was found stuffed into a suitcase in the trunk of her car. Delaware abolished its death penalty in 2016, a decision that applied retroactively.
The court said Sykes' lawyer raised "speculative and implausible theories" about how someone else could have been involved in the crime, and speculated that Sykes had a consensual relationship with the elderly woman without so much as a sworn statement from Sykes himself.