COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A Boone County judge has rejected the request for a new trial by a former Columbia police officer convicted of killing a University of Missouri student with whom he had an affair.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Monday that Senior Judge Frank Conley denied a petition from Steven Rios to reverse his 2008 conviction.
Rios is serving a life sentence in the 2004 killing of 23-year-old University of Missouri student Jesse Valencia. The one-time Columbia policeman was first convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was convicted of second-degree murder in the same case in early 2009 after an appeals court tossed out the first conviction.
Rios argued in his latest appeal that he was denied effective legal assistance from his lawyer.
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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com