Killer Anderson seeks new evidence testing in Fayetteville conviction

Ricky Anderson walks into the courtroom for his July 2009 arraignment at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayettevile.
Ricky Anderson walks into the courtroom for his July 2009 arraignment at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayettevile.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Ricky Ray Anderson, who's serving life in prison for killing his former girlfriend, wants a judge to reconsider his conviction.

Jill Lynn Ulmer, 26, was found with multiple stab wounds in her Fayetteville apartment June 26, 2009, just minutes after she called 911 to tell police Anderson was in the parking lot and walking toward her home. She had a restraining order against Anderson.

Anderson, now 49, was inside the apartment stabbing Ulmer when officers arrived. She was stabbed at least 27 times and a major artery deep in her abdomen was cut.

Two Fayetteville police officers were unable to break through the apartment's locked door. They broke a window and shot at Anderson as he stabbed Ulmer with a butcher knife. The shots missed Anderson, but one bullet ricocheted off a couch and hit Ulmer in the head.

Medical examiners said both the stab wounds and the gunshot contributed to Ulmer's death and either would have been fatal.

Anderson, who has no attorney representing him, filed a handwritten motion for reconsideration saying he has discovered new advances in finger print analysis that would greatly assist in proving he wasn't the one who inflicted the stab wounds on Ulmer.

Anderson argues "identifying the perpetrator was and is a central issue of this case," even though there was no credible evidence at trial anyone other than Anderson and Ulmer were in the apartment when the stabbing happened.

In November 2011, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Anderson's appeal for a new trial in which he claimed there was insufficient evidence to convict him of capital murder.

A subsequent appeal claiming ineffective assistance of counsel at trial was also denied.

NW News on 06/20/2017

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