Fresno prosecutor files motion to dismiss rape, kidnapping charges against Nealy

A prosecutor on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss rape and kidnapping charges against Eddie Ricky Nealy, a move that will allow a judge to sentence the defendant to death for the 1985 rape and killing of Fresno teen Jody Lynn Wolfe.

Nealy, 58, is a defendant in two criminal cases in Fresno County Superior Court: the murder of Wolfe and the alleged rape of a 32-year-old Riverdale woman in 2001.

Nealy faces a death sentence because in September 2013 a jury convicted him of rape and the first-degree murder of 14-year-old Jody, whose nude body was discovered floating face up in a southwest Fresno canal on Aug. 15, 1985. An autopsy revealed she died of blunt-force trauma to the back of her head and had been dead at least two days.

But a different jury last month did not convict Nealy of the 2001 rape and kidnapping charges in the Riverdale case. Because a mistrial was declared, prosecutor Steve Wright had the option to retry Nealy on the rape and kidnapping charges. On Thursday, he decided to file a motion to dismiss the charges.

Judge Arlan Harrell, however, delayed ruling on the motion until Oct. 19, when Nealy is scheduled to be sentenced in the killing of Jody.

Nealy has been in the Fresno County Jail since April 2007, when Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer announced at a news conference that Nealy’s DNA linked him to Jody’s murder.

Nealy’s DNA also linked him to the alleged rape of the Riverdale woman, but defense lawyers Eric Green and Serita Rios contended the sex was consensual.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Fresno prosecutor files motion to dismiss rape, kidnapping charges against Nealy."