The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of the murder and arson conviction of Roger K. Marshall.

The court’s memoranda was filed on Wednesday.

Marshall was convicted in February 2006 for the murders of Lolaetta Corbin Hicks, John Meyer and James Reed and multiple counts of arson in connection with the August 2004 fire at the Lyle Motel.

Prosecutor J. B. Collier Jr. had contended during the trial that Marshall set the fire because he was angry at Hicks, with whom he had once been romantically involved, over her liaison with Meyer. Reed was a bystander.

After the guilty verdict, then Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Richard Walton sentenced Marshall to two life terms without parole plus 10 years.

Marshall, who could have received the death penalty, maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

He then appealed his conviction to the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals.

His grounds were that the lower court erred by not suppressing certain statements he made before he obtained medical care for burns he suffered in the fire; not suppressing certain evidence taken from his residence; allowing expert testimony that should have been excluded; by allowing testimony about prior acts of bad behavior; and jury misconduct.

In November 2007 the appeals court denied Marshall’s request for a new trial.

Attorney David Dillon, who handled the first appeal,

took Marshall’s case to the Ohio high court, which dismissed “the appeal as not involving any substantial constitutional question.”

Marshall, now housed in the Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, has been notified by mail about the latest decision, Dillon said.

“It is pretty rare for the court to take jurisdiction but it is still disappointing for Mr. Marshall’s sake,” Dillon said.