BOSTON (AP) - The highest court in Massachusetts has refused to grant a new trial to a man convicted of killing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son.
The Supreme Judicial Court in its ruling Friday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Eric Durand in the 2003 death of Brendan Camara.
Prosecutors said Durand beat the boy because he was angry he wet his pants. Durand was first convicted in 2006, but he later won a new trial. He was convicted a second time in 2011.
He appealed that conviction on several grounds, including his claim that the prosecutor made improper statements during closing arguments.
The high court found that although prosecutors improperly referenced inadmissible evidence, that error alone did not merit a new trial for Durand.
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