BISMARCK--A man convicted of murdering a North Dakota State University researcher on New Year's Eve 2010 lost his appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday.
The court rejected Daniel Wacht's argument that he should receive post-conviction relief because a self-serving witness may have lied at Wacht's trial.
"Wacht's conviction was not based upon the testimony of a single witness," the Supreme Court stated in its opinion, agreeing with a lower court's decision.
Wacht was sentenced in August 2012 to a life sentence without possibility of parole for shooting 55-year-old Kurt Johnson in the forehead after a night of drinking in Cooperstown.
Five days after Johnson was last seen leaving with Wacht outside a Cooperstown bar, Johnson's decapitated head was found in Wacht's basement.
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Wacht filed a direct appeal, which the state Supreme Court denied in 2013.
In his subsequent appeal for post-conviction relief, Wacht argued that he had new damning evidence: A witness lied for personal gain.
Wacht provided statements from two men who were inmates in prison with a man named Jason Bolstad, a witness who testified for the prosecution.
Bolstad told inmate Shane Miller that, "I came up with some bull--- story to help myself and my family," according to Miller.
Bolstad also said "these people are going to get convicted anyway, so you might as well help yourself out," according to another inmate, George Paquette.
In rejecting Wacht's argument, the state Supreme Court said other evidence supported Bolstad's testimony, and Miller and Paquette were not specific about what Bolstad lied about.
Wacht also argued unsuccessfully that his attorney was incompetent.
