ORANGE, Texas — A Texas appeals court has denied the appeal of a Vinton man convicted in the 2021 fatal shooting of an Orange County couple.
Manka Melson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of Aaliyah Paris Gradnigo, 18, and Thalamus Livings, 23, both of Orange.
The Texas Court of Appeals for the Ninth District of Texas released its opinion denying his appeal on Wednesday morning.
During his trial in Orange County's 163rd District Court, the prosecution said that Melson sent thousands of texts to Gradnigo before the murder took place.
In his appeal Melson claimed that using his phone records as evidence amounted to hearsay and should not have been admitted.
The appeals court disagreed, noting that testimony showed Melson had admitted to police that he had sent the text messages to Gradnigo.
Melson also claimed that the court erred in assessing him legal fees because he is indigent.
While the court did not agree that the assessment of legal fees was grounds to grant his appeal they did agree that he should not be responsible for the legal fees.
When officers responded to the couple's home around 2:30 a.m. on early on a Saturday morning in January 2021 they found them with gunshot wounds.
Livings was pronounced dead at the scene and Gradnigo was taken to a nearby hospital where she later died.
12News spoke with Gradnigo's mother, Amanda. She tells us the appeals process forces the family to relive the moments her daughter died three years ago.
"We have to deal with this everyday. They still get to conversate with him. He gets to grow older everyday. He's still breathing. We don't have that. And you know when you hear about the appeal, it definitely...today's been a little emotional. I cry every single day for her. But today's just been a little different," Amanda said.