Convicted murderer Terry Cobbins, Jr. has had his appeal denied.

Cobbins was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Knoxville resident Teresa Miller in January of 2011. Cobbins,. who was hired to kill Miller by her husband Michael Miller, appealed his conviction arguing his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in failing to conduct a proper pretrial investigation and object to the admission of Cobbins’ prior theft convictions. A district court judge ruled Wednesday that the case contains overwhelming evidence of Cobbins’ guilt. Because Cobbins has not shown he was prejudiced by trial counsels’ alleged failures, the judges concluded trial counsel did not render ineffective assistance. Cobbins along with Teresa Miller’s former husband Michael Miller, are both serving a life sentence without parole.