Leslie Galloway was sentenced to death by a Harrison County jury for raping and murdering 17-year-old Shakelyia Anderson of Gulfport in 2008. Prosecutors sought death by lethal injection.

Following the denial of his 2015 petition for post-conviction relief related to his 2007 guilty plea, Galloway appealed the decision. The trial court determined that Galloway’s post-conviction relief claim was barred under Mississippi’s uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act.