The State Supreme Court has denied an appeal to one of several men convicted in a brutal murder in northern Wisconsin.
Joseph Lussier was convicted in 2018 in the death of Wayne Valliere Jr. Police say Lussier and four other men drove Valliere out to rural Iron County and shot and beat him to death before hiding his body.
Lussier says that a judge was wrong to immediately sentence him to life in prison without giving him a chance to have a full sentencing investigation. The appeals court disagreed, and said that Lussier was properly informed by the judge that he could be sentenced after a jury reached a verdict.
The State Supreme Court decided on Thursday to not to hear a further appeal.