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NH Supreme Court Upholds Conviction In Mont Vernon Home Invasion, Murder

ONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who sought to reverse his conviction for the murder of a woman hacked to death with a machete.

The court, in a unanimous opinion Tuesday, upheld Christopher Gribble's conviction.

Defense lawyers argued that the court should order a new trial for the 23-year-old Gribble, who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for killing Kimberly Cates and maiming her daughter at their Mont Vernon home in 2009.

Gribble's lawyers said jurors knew too much about the case. They said the trial should have been moved out of Hillsborough County.

Prosecutors said there wasn't a county in the state where potential jurors hadn't heard of the gruesome attacks.

A jury rejected Gribble's insanity defense in 2011.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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