Jason Reeves, center, in this file photo from the American Press Archives.
Convicted murderer Reeves gets stay of execution
Last Modified: Thursday, August 16, 2012 3:56 PM
By Johnathan Manning / American Press
A new execution date has yet to be set for a former Ragley man convicted of raping and killing a 4-year-old girl in 2001.
Convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Mary Jean Thigpen, Jason Reeves was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday.
Reeves’ death warrant was signed on May 31 and any post-conviction relief was to be filed within 30 days.
There was a change in Reeves’ counsel, and the state received a call in June from his attorneys requesting more time to file, Judge Mike Canaday said.
The stay of execution was signed on June 18.
Reeves now has until Sept. 11 to file for post-conviction relief.
Reeves abducted Thigpen on Nov. 12, 2001. Her body was found two days later at LeBleu Cemetery off La. 397.
Reeves, who was sentenced to die by lethal injection, would be the 29th person executed in Louisiana since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979.
The last was Gerald Bordelon in 2010 — he confessed to strangling his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
Prior to that, Leslie Dale Martin was executed in 2002 for the 1991 rape and murder of a McNeese State University student he met at a Lake Charles bar.
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