PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The state Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a man sentenced to life in prison for killing a friend who demanded that he return thousands of dollars he’d helped her hide from creditors.

Chester Briggs, a former telephone company worker from New Hampshire, fatally shot Patricia Jacques in 1997 in Tiverton. A jury convicted Briggs in 2001 of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Briggs asked the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and grant a new trial. He argued, among other things, that the judge who handled his murder trial had limited his right to cross-examine witnesses and erred in deciding what evidence could and could not be admitted

But in an opinion issued Tuesday morning, the justices rejected Briggs’ arguments and said the trial judge “presided competently over a long and difficult trial.”

The Supreme Court said none of Briggs’ claims merited a new trial and upheld the conviction.

AP-ES-12-06-05 1106EST