Serial Killings Suspect Denied New Trial

PORT ALLEN, La. (AP) -- A judge Friday denied a new trial for a serial-murder suspect convicted of one slaying, leading Derrick Todd Lee to proclaim outside the courthouse that he was being "screwed over by the system."

One of the motions rejected by District Judge Robin Free argued that a mistrial should be declared because one juror did not vote during deliberations. The jury voted 11-1 to convict Lee of second-degree murder Tuesday.

Another motion argued that the defense had obtained new information that could have helped Lee's case.

After the judge's ruling, officers led Lee to a prison van where he shouted to reporters that he was tired of how the system was treating him.

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Lee is scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison Monday for killing Geralyn Barr DeSoto.

Police said DNA evidence linked Lee, 35, to the deaths of seven women between 1998 and 2003.

A first-degree murder trial for the death of a Baton Rouge woman is scheduled in September.

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