A federal appeals court says a gang leader convicted of murder in the killing of a New Mexico state corrections officer cannot start new appeals in the case.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling Monday rejects Robert Trujillo Young's request to be allowed to challenge a trial judge's refusal to allow new appeal proceedings.
Young was convicted of murder and other crimes in the 1999 killing of Corrections Officer Ralph Garcia and the wounding of an inmate who survived an attack on him.
The 10th Circuit's ruling said Young ordered the attack on the inmate and personally led other inmates in the attack on Garcia at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa.
Young is serving a state prison sentence of life plus 24 years.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.