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Court upholds death sentence for Yamhill County killer
Saturday, January 24, 2004 | 2 comment(s)
SALEM (AP) - The Oregon Supreme Court upheld the death sentence Friday of a man convicted of killing a 12-year-old Yamhill County girl after sexually assaulting her.
Jeffery Dana Sparks was found guilty of strangling Lacey Robancho of Lafayette in April 1998 after luring her to his trailer as she walked her bicycle near her home.
Sparks was sentenced to death in May 1999 following convictions on 15 counts of aggravated murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping and attempted rape.
The girl's partially clad body was found in some brambles April 21 by a railroad worker.
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected all of Sparks' claims of legal errors in his case, including that the trial should have been moved from Yamhill County.
Sparks had a long criminal record prior to the killing, including a 1984 conviction of raping a 15-year-old girl in a McMinnville city park.
Jeffery Dana Sparks was found guilty of strangling Lacey Robancho of Lafayette in April 1998 after luring her to his trailer as she walked her bicycle near her home.
Sparks was sentenced to death in May 1999 following convictions on 15 counts of aggravated murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping and attempted rape.
The girl's partially clad body was found in some brambles April 21 by a railroad worker.
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected all of Sparks' claims of legal errors in his case, including that the trial should have been moved from Yamhill County.
Sparks had a long criminal record prior to the killing, including a 1984 conviction of raping a 15-year-old girl in a McMinnville city park.
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