SYRACUSE (AP) - The conviction of a motorcyclist who led a New York state trooper on a deadly chase has been upheld by a state appeals court.

In a terse two-page ruling Wednesday, the state Appellate Division in Rochester rejected every defense challenge to James Carncross' conviction on charges of aggravated criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving.

The court's four judges found that there was sufficient evidence that Carncross set in motion the events that led to the death of Trooper Craig Todeschini, making him legally responsible for causing the trooper's death.

Carncross, now 23, of Jamesville, is serving a seven-year sentence for trying to escape from Todeschini and causing him to crash into a tree on a rural highway near Syracuse in April 2006. Carncross was convicted in December 2006.

Defense attorneys wanted a new trial for Carncross and raised more than a half-dozen issues, including whether there was sufficient evidence to support the criminally-negligent-homicide conviction.

Other issues the court was asked to consider included whether there was sufficient evidence to support a finding that Carncross's conduct, beyond speeding, amounted to criminally negligent homicide; whether Onondaga County Judge Hon. William Walsh's jury instructions were fair; and whether Carncross's statement to state police should have been kept out of evidence because of incompetent legal counsel at the time Carncross talked to investigators.

The appeals judges either affirmed the trial court's decisions or determined that the defense arguments had no merit.

Todeschini, 25, of Geddes, was killed when his patrol sport-utility vehicle crashed into a tree as it was rounding a curve while he chased Carncross in the hamlet of Pompey Hill, about 15 miles south of Syracuse. The chase reached 100 mph at times.

Defense attorney Salvatore Piemonte argued during the trial that Todeschini was responsible for his own death because he drove recklessly and failed to follow proper state-police pursuit policy.