A New Jersey appellate court Thursday rejected an appeal by serial killer Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, who was convicted of the murders of three women in 2016 and the attempted murder of a fourth woman. He was sentenced in 2021 to 160 years in prison.
In his appeal, Wheeler-Weaver, of Orange, claimed there were errors by the judge during the trial and that the sentence was “excessive.” However, the appeals court wrote, “the enormity of the sentence is amply justified by the horrific nature of defendant’s crimes.”
Wheeler-Weaver’s appeal contended that each victim’s case should have been tried separately, that the “judge improperly instructed the jury on how to consider the evidence of the multiple criminal episodes,” that police violated his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and that the judge erred when informing the jury of the Miranda warning.
The appeals court rejected each claim, although it did take issue with the judge’s instructions regarding Miranda rights. The court said “the error does not rise to the level of plain error warranting reversal of defendant’s trial convictions.”