Mississippi Supreme Court October 4, 2007, Nos. 2002-DP-00282-SCT, 2006-CA-00432-SCT (Loden v. State)

RANDOLPH, Justice,

for the Court.

¶ 1. Late in the evening on June 22, 2000, Thomas E. Loden, Jr. (“Loden”) kidnapped sixteen-year-old Leesa Marie Gray (“Leesa”). Over the next four hours, Lo-den repeatedly raped and sexually battered Leesa, videotaping portions of the sadistic acts, before murdering her by way of suffocation and manual strangulation.