Ledell Lee (July 31, 1965 – April 20, 2017) was an American convicted murderer, suspected serial killer, and serial rapist who was executed for the 1993 murder of his neighbor, Debra Reese. He was convicted in 1995, and the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in 1997, but numerous questions have been raised about the justice of his trial and post-conviction representation. Issues have included conflict of interest for the judge, inebriation of counsel, and ineffective defense counsel. A request to postpone the execution in order to test DNA on the murder weapon, was denied by a circuit judge. After Lee's execution, it was proven that the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to another person, an unknown male. The weapon was a tire iron which the victim's husband had given her as a form of protection. The same test also "found moderate support" that blood found on Lee's left shoe had belonged to Reese. Other evidence against Lee at the time of his trial included the testimony of three eyewitnesses and that at 1:53 PM on the day of the murder, Lee paid a debt with a $100 bill at a Rent-A-Center. Of the three one hundred dollar bills that the Rent-A-Center received that day, one of the bills bore a serial number that was within two digits of serial numbers on bills that the victim's father had turned over to police. DNA evidence linked Lee, who had recently been paroled for burglary and theft, to three other attacks, including the 1989 abduction, rape, and murder of Christine Lewis. Lee was tried for Lewis's murder in 1994, but a mistrial was declared after it was discovered that one of the jurors was convicted felon who was related to Lee. Lee was never retried for Lewis's murder after being sentenced to death for the murder of Reese, but was sentenced to life in prison plus 150 years for two separate rapes. Lee was convicted of the 1990 kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old girl whom he left for dead after trying to drown her in a river, and the 1991 kidnapping, rape, and robbery of a 50-year-old woman. Lee is also suspected in the 1989 rape of a 70-year-old woman, whom he allegedly left for dead, as well as the 1991 murder of Carolyn Jackson, a sex worker who was last seen with him.
Convictions Debra Kay Reese (September 27, 1966 – February 9, 1993), age 26 years, was found dead in 1993 in her home in Jacksonville, Arkansas. She had been strangled and beaten with a small wooden bat her husband had given her for protection. Several of Reese's neighbors said they saw Lee near the house and identified him to police. He was arrested less than an hour later, allegedly after spending some of the $300 stolen from Reese. Lee was charged with first degree murder, a capital offense. He was alleged to have struck Debra Reese 36 times with a tire thumper. He was convicted of capital murder by the jury and sentenced to death on October 16, 1995.
Post-arrest rape convictions, prosecution, and suspected crimes After being charged in the murder of Reese, Lee became a suspect in other crimes. He was accused of three sexual assaults and convicted of two, the 1991 rape of a Jacksonville woman and the 1990 rape of a Jacksonville teenager. Lee was also prosecuted for the November 1989 rape and murder of 22-year-old Christine Lewis, a mother, in November 1989. Lewis was abducted from her home. She was later raped, strangled, and eventually killed. Her body was found inside a closet at an abandoned home. Lee was tried in 1994, but a mistrial was declared after it was discovered that one of the jurors was convicted felon who was related to Lee. After Lee was convicted and sentenced to death for Reese's murder, county prosecutors decided against retrying him for the alleged murder of Lewis. On September 21, 1995, Lee was convicted of the kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old girl in Jacksonville, Arkansas on November 27, 1990. The victim testified that she was home alone with her three-year-old nephew and three-month-old niece on the evening of the assault. She stated that while she was rocking her niece, Lee came up behind her, put an arm around her neck, struck her on the head and face with an iron, forced her out of the house and into a wooded area, where he raped her, choked her, then held her head under water in a ditch until she lost consciousness. She testified that when she regained consciousness, she was lying face up in the ditch, wearing only a bra and a tee shirt. She returned home and was taken to a hospital emergency room where the rape examination was performed. The victim described her attacker as a tall, black man with large hands. The FBI agent who performed the DNA analysis concluded that the probability of the assailant being someone other than Lee was one in 83 million from the black population. Lee received a 60-year sentence in this case. On October 19, 1995, Lee was convicted of the kidnapping, rape, and robbery of a 50-year-old woman on March 7, 1991. That evening, the victim returning home from the grocery store when she noticed Lee following her. When she stepped off the sidewalk to let Lee pass, he grabbed her around the neck and began strangling her, causing her to drop her groceries. Lee began rummaging through her purse in an attempt to find money. Warning the victim to remain silent if she wanted to live, Lee then dragged her to the back of the school building. When the woman attempted to cry out for help, Lee strangled her to the point of near-unconsciousness, then removed the victim's belt and bound her hands with it. After dumping out the contents of her purse, Lee found an apron that he used to cover her face. He then removed her clothes and demanded oral sex. When woman refused, he raped her and left her with her hands still bound and her face still blindfolded. Lee was sentenced to life in prison plus 150 years in this case. Lee's prior convictions were cited by the prosecution at the sentencing phase of his capital murder trial. The judge described him as a "hunter" whose "prey were the people of Jacksonville from 1990 to 1993." Lee is also a suspect in the 1991 murder of Carolyn Johnson, a black sex worker who was last seen talking with him in 1991.
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