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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied Bateman's request for a retrial, the Northwestern District Attorney announced on Monday, July 17.
Bateman was convicted of first-degree murder in 2007 and ordered to serve two life sentences without parole after a jury found him guilty of the strangulation death of Waryasz, who was seven months pregnant, records show. Her unborn child, who she planned to name Dane Anthony Hall, also died in the attack.
Bateman robbed a Deerfield Sunoco on April 16, 2005, where Waryasz worked as a clerk. He stole $350 and used the money to buy drugs, police said.
Bateman's attorney argued in the appeal that his client's original trial was "infected by errors" because of Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini's decisions. That included allowing a jailhouse informant to testify that Bateman confessed to the crime.
The state supreme court summarily rejected that claim in a 60-page rebuke of Bateman's arguments.
“We disagree in all respects,” the high court ruled. “Having reviewed the entire record, we discern no basis to set aside or reduce the verdicts of murder in the first degree or to order a new trial.”
Bateman had previously requested a new trial in 2019 on the same grounds, but a lower court also rejected that request.
Northwestern District Attorney’s Office Appeals Unit Chief Thomas H. Townsend oversaw the case for the prosecution. He thanked the high court for its decision.
“We’re pleased they accepted our arguments,” he said in a news release. “It was a long road to get to this point, but we made it.”
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