‘Perfect Criminal’ Loses Bid for Acquittal in Fraud, Murder Case

A Texas man who stole from his friends and colleagues for years—and then eventually murdered one of them—lost his motion for acquittal after a federal court judge rejected myriad challenges to the prosecution’s case.

Following an eight-day trial in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a jury convicted Keith Todd Ashley of 13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, one count of possessing or carrying a firearm during commission of a crime of violence, and one count of bank fraud.

Ashley’s motion for acquittal was largely based on the sufficiency of the evidence, ...