The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of Reinaldo J. Rivera.

The serial killer who murdered 21-year-old Army Sgt. Marni Glista was sentenced to death on Jan. 26, 2004, in Richmond County Superior Court.

Today the state's highest court ruled unanimously that Mr. Rivera, 43, was fairly tried and that the death sentence was not excessive in light of his crimes.

In his confessions and at his 2004 trial, Mr. Rivera repeatedly insisted he deserved and wanted a death sentence.

In Georgia an appeal to the state Supreme Court is mandatory. Mr. Rivera's case can be appealed further if he wants to pursue it.

Mr. Rivera raped, sodomized and strangled Sgt. Glista on Sept. 4, 2000, and left her for dead inside her Augusta home.

Mr. Rivera later confessed that before the attack on Sgt. Glista, he had also raped and killed three other women _ Tabitha Bosdell, Melissa Dingess and Tiffany Wilson _ teenagers who disappeared in the months leading up to Sgt. Glista's attack.

Ms. Bosdell's remains and those of Ms. Dingess were found at the locations Mr. Rivera gave investigators after his arrest. Ms. Wilson's remains where found in Aiken County after her Dec. 4, 1999, disappearance but no one one was charged in her case until Mr. Rivera confessed.

Mr. Rivera was arrested after an attack on an Augusta teenager on Oct. 10, 2000. He tried to kill Chrisilee Barton and left her for dead in her Augusta home. However, she survived and her description led investigators to Mr. Rivera.

Reach Sandy Hodson at 706-823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com