The 11th Court of Appeals reversed the April 2014 capital murder conviction of Lanny Bush on Thursday, August 11, 2016.  The court ruled that evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for capital murder based on kidnapping and ruled to reverse the capital murder conviction.

The court found that there was sufficient evidence to support the “lesser included offense of murder” in the September 2012 death of Michele Reiter of Brownwood.  The court will conduct a new trial as to punishment only for murder.

Bush, then 53, was arrested in Tom Green County; however, the trial was held in Coleman County where the murder was suspected to have occurred and Reiter’s body was found.  Bush was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole during the trial in Coleman County, which lasted five days and the jury deliberated for 2.5 hours before finding Bush guilty.