 The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected the post-conviction appeal of a Scottsbluff man serving life in prison for the brutal stabbing death of his girlfriend.Â
69-year old Lucio Munoz had argued in his post-conviction motion that his attorneys for his trial and direct appeal were so ineffective that it violated his right to fair trial.
The Scotts Bluff County district court rejected his motion without an evidentiary hearing, saying Munoz failed to show he had any new evidence or information that would have changed the outcome of his trial or appeal.
Munoz appealed the ruling and on Friday, the state’s high court ruled that the lower court decision was correct.
Munoz was convicted of killing 48-year-old Melissa May in her Scottsbluff apartment on New Year’s Eve morning 2016, stabbing her 38 times and then leaving town.
A request for a welfare check led police to discover May’s body on Jan 3, 2017, and Munoz was arrested a few days later in the Chicago suburb of Bradley, where his brother lived.