ROCHESTER (AP) - A man convicted for his role in the execution-style slayings of a mother and daughter has been denied a new trial by a state appeals court.

Robert Williams Jr. had claimed that his conviction in February 2005 was not supported by legally sufficient evidence.

In a ruling Nov. 1, the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division, 3rd Department, said the case against Williams included direct evidence from a police officer and two fellow inmates who testified about incriminating statements Williams made to them in jail.

Williams and Vernon Parker Jr., both now 38, were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for the slayings of Valerie Spears, 50, and her 14-year-old daughter, Devin, in the basement of their Binghamton home in July 2002.

Prosecutors said the Spearses were executed to silence them as witnesses in a pending trial in Maryland, where Parker was accused of molesting Devin Spears in July 2001. Parker was identified at trial as the triggerman.

In denying Williams' appeal, the court also rejected his assertion that his right to a fair trial was compromised because the jury pool did not represent a fair cross-section of the community.

Williams and Parker are both serving sentences of life without parole.