Death penalty appeal denied

A federal appeals court has rejected the latest appeal by a man on death row for kidnapping and killing a North Clarendon woman in 2000. 29-year-old Donald Fell lost his initial appeal last year before a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Fell's attorney then asked for a review of the sentence by the full court. That appeal was denied. Fell was convicted in 2005 of kidnapping and killing 53-year-old Terry King of North Clarendon. He is the first man sentenced to death in Vermont in 50 years. The case is unusual in that it involves a Federal death penalty case in a state without a death penalty. Fell's next appeal would likely be to the U.S. Supreme Court.