A Selma man on death row for the 1995 murder of a 15-year-old girl in rural Dallas County has lost an appeal.

The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the appeal of Dominique Ray. The court struck down each issue Ray raised from his trial held in 1999. At that time, a Dallas County jury convicted and then voted 11-1 for the death penalty in Ray’s case.

The jury convicted Ray of capital murder. Court testimony revealed Ray and another man, Marcus D. Owden, picked up Tiffany, took her to the Sardis community and forced her to have sex with them.

During the trial, Owden testified against Ray, saying Ray cut her throat and Owden cut her, too. Owden also testified they took part of her clothing and her purse, which contained $6 or $7.

The appeal came from a legal petition Ray filed in February 2003, and then amended in November 2003. In the petition, Ray asked the circuit court to grant him a new trial, citing various legal errors during the proceedings.

The circuit court in Dallas County denied Ray’s petition for a new trial in 2006 in a 107-page order.

The appellate court said Ray’s appeal did not meet the standards required of those seeking a new trial after conviction.

Ray argued in his appeal the circuit court’s findings were “clearly erroneous,” when the court adopted the state’s order to deny the appeal.

The appellate court said the argument might hold, if a different judge had denied Ray his petition for a new trial. However, the same judge who presided over Ray’s trial and the penalty proceedings; the same judge who sentenced Ray to death also denied his petition.

Ray also raised myriad other issues in the legal filing, ranging from ineffective representation by counsel and to the prosecution’s failure to share certain evidence.

The appellate court struck down all Ray’s arguments.