TALLADEGA, Ala. - More than a decade ago, a frustrated judge vowed there would be no more delays in the stalled retrial of death row inmate Shep Wilson Jr.

But the postponements only continued: a mental evaluation, a sick attorney, changes of judges and prosecutors, and a blizzard of legal papers. By the time Wilson died in prison last week of liver failure, he had waited a total of nearly 18 years without ever getting a new trial in the slaying of a teenage store clerk.

Was it a case of justice denied or the justice system played? Prosecutors said their case was solid, and defense lawyers acknowledged in court papers that Wilson would probably have been convicted in a second trial and perhaps sentenced to death.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, said Thursday that most retrials took only one or two years to get to court. "Eighteen years? I've never heard of anyone waiting that long," he said.The case file - five volumes of yellowing paper - tells the story of at least a dozen trial dates that came and went because of delays caused by hundreds of legal requests, scheduling conflicts and a prisoner who believed he would be acquitted somehow.

The defense team never pushed for a speedy trial, and a succession of three different district attorneys and two judges never got Wilson back in front of a jury before he died at age 50.

A relative of the slain clerk said Wilson got what he deserved - life in a 6-foot-by-8-foot cell.

"As far as I can tell, he didn't deserve (another trial) at all," said James Cook, a cousin of Monica Cook, 19. "He killed her for no reason."

Records show Monica Cook was abducted Jan. 27, 1986, from a convenience store where she worked. She was raped, beaten and choked, and her body was dumped on the side of a road.

Wilson confessed to the slaying, telling police he had killed Cook accidentally after they had sex.

Jurors convicted Wilson of capital murder, and Circuit Judge Jerry L. Fielding sent him to death row. But the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the verdict in 1990, ruling that a prosecutor violated Wilson's rights by referring in closing arguments to Wilson's decision not to testify.

Fielding resumed control of the case, setting a new trial date in 1991. The defense challenged almost every shred of evidence against Wilson, and the retrial was delayed months, then years. At one point, the defense asked the judge to declare Wilson incompetent because he wouldn't plead guilty and take a prosecutor's offer of life without parole instead of death, meaning more delay. Then, the entire defense team asked to be removed from the case.

Fielding retired, and another judge took over in 2004, holding regular status meetings with attorneys. The most recent conference had been set for June 9, but Wilson was too ill to attend. He died June 12.