LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man serving a life sentence for the 1986 killing of his girlfriend will remain behind bars after the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected his motion for postconviction relief.

The high court on Friday said a lower court was not wrong to dismiss Courtney Starks’ motion without holding an evidentiary hearing. Starks was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and a weapons count for the killing of Linda Wierzbicki.

In his postconviction motion, Starks argued that his lawyers failed to claim prosecutorial misconduct during his trial. Starks claims that police coerced a confession from him by showing him graphic photos of Wierzbicki’s body, then lied at trial about showing him such photos.

The high court says the lower court’s review of the trial record was enough to discount Starks’ arguments.