Court rejects murder appeal

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from an Indiana death row inmate convicted of the torture murder of an 18-year-old woman.\nBill J. Benefiel was sentenced to death for the 1987 killing of Dolores Wells of Terre Haute.\nIn his appeal, Benefiel, 48, argued for a new trial, saying his trial attorneys were incompetent and that prosecutors engaged in misconduct.\nBenefiel has been on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City since November 1988, when he was sentenced to death by a Vigo County judge.\nProsecutors alleged during his murder trial that Benefiel held Wells captive in a vacant house for 12 days, sexually abusing her before killing her Feb. 17, 1987.\nWells' body was found buried in a rural area outside of Terre Haute.\nAlicia Elmore, whom Benefiel held captive for a four-month period in the same house, survived the ordeal and testified against him during his trial.