Memphis capital murder retrial set for July 14
By Lawrence Buser
The Commercial Appeal
A July 14 [2014] retrial date was set Thursday for a former Southaven man who was sent to death row in 1998 after being convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, whose body was never found.
Michael Dale Rimmer, who has been sentenced to death by two different juries, last year won a new trial after a judge ruled his lawyers were ineffective and that prosecutors and police acted improperly.
He was convicted of killing Ricci Lynn Ellsworth, who disappeared Feb. 8, 1997, from the Memphis Inn at I-40 and Sycamore View where she was the night clerk.
The office showed signs of a violent struggle, with blood and broken bathroom facilities, but her body was never found.
Rimmer, who previously had served time for assaulting and raping Ellsworth, was arrested a month later in Indiana driving a stolen car with her blood in the back seat.
Jailhouse informants said Rimmer had vowed to kill her when he got out and that he later boasted about it afterward.
He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998, but won a new sentencing trial when an appeals court ruled that incorrect jury forms were used. His conviction was upheld.
In 2004 a new jury again sentenced Rimmer to death, but last October Criminal Court Judge James Beasley Jr. awarded Rimmer a new trial, ruling that defense attorneys did not adequately represent him and that police and prosecutors were not forthcoming with evidence favorable to the defense.
Earlier this year, Rimmer told Judge Chris Craft that he wanted to represent himself, but later reconsidered and agreed to cooperate with an appointed defense attorney.
The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
Ricci Ellsworth, 45, was married and the mother of two children. Her husband, Donald Ellsworth, was killed on Christmas Eve of 2011 in his Memphis home by a nephew wielding an ax.
That case is pending in the same courtroom.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...t-for-july-14/
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