A Springtown man who was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl and sentenced to serve 40 years in prison with no parole will serve that sentence, after the Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi ruled Wednesday, May 6.
In his appeal, James Earnest Blackmon claimed he should get a new trial because the judge did not strike jurors he claimed could not fairly consider the entire range of punishment. The Corpus Christi court rejected that argument, writing that if the jurors were so objectionable, Blackmon should have eliminated them from consideration with his peremptory, or discretionary, strikes. He did not…