US Supreme Court won't hear Moeller appeal

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PIERRE (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Donald Moeller's appeal of his conviction for the 1990 rape and murder of a 9-year-old Sioux Falls girl.

Moeller argued his conviction should have been overturned because the jury instructions weren't complete.

Moeller went on trial twice. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997. He says jurors weren't told he would not have been eligible for parole if he got a life prison sentence.

Moeller believes he got the death sentence because the jury thought he could be released from prison.

Moeller was convicted of kidnapping 9-year-old Becky O'Connell from a Sioux Falls convenience store, then raping and killing her.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley on Monday said Moeller's execution is overdue.

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