HOUSTON (AP) -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Houston man condemned for fatally shooting a young couple during a carjacking.
Dexter Johnson was an 18-year-old ninth-grade dropout when he was arrested for robbing 23-year-old Maria Aparece and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Huy Ngo.
The woman was raped and both were shot to death in the June 2006 attack. Their bodies were found in northeast Houston.
In a second case Wednesday, the state's highest criminal court upheld the death sentence of Douglas Tyrone Armstrong for the April 2006 robbery of Rafael Castelan outside a bar in Donna in Hidalgo County in south Texas.
Evidence showed Castelon's neck was slashed with a box cutter.
Johnson and Armstrong do not have execution dates and still may pursue federal appeals.
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