Judge Signs Death Warrant

LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) A death warrant filed in Livingston Parish sets Gerald Bordelon's execution date for Jan. 7.

A jury convicted Bordelon in 2006 of murdering his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Courtney LeBlanc.

Bordelon requested that the conviction and death sentence not be appealed. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled last month that Bordelon has the right to waive his automatic appeal.

The Advocate reports the warrant, filed Monday, was signed by District Judge Bruce C. Bennett, who presided over Bordelon's first-degree murder trial.

The prosecution alleged Bordelon kidnapped his stepdaughter at knifepoint in November 2002, took her to Mississippi, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him, then took her to a wooded area along the Amite River where he strangled her.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com