JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – On Monday, April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review of the appeal for the Lincoln County man who was convicted in the 2017 killings of eight people. This means the court will not hear the case of Willie Cory Godbolt.

Godbolt had filed a handwritten petition in August seeking the high court’s review of a decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court affirming his convictions and death sentences.

In his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, he claimed an ineffective defense and illegal search, among other violations. The justices, who typically don’t explain their decision to deny review, did not say why they rejected Godbolt’s case.

In May 2024, the Mississippi Supreme Court declined to rehear Godbolt’s appeal.

In 2020, Lincoln County jurors found Godbolt guilty of all 12 counts against him, including four counts of murder and four counts of capital murder. He received a sentence of life in prison for each murder conviction and a death sentence for each capital murder conviction.

Godbolt shot and killed eight people in May 2017, including his mother-in-law and a Lincoln County deputy, during a house-to-house shooting rampage.

In March 2024, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences of Godbolt.

His public defenders argued in November 2023 that the conviction should be overturned due to bad act evidence, but state prosecutors insisted that the evidence was there. His defenders said there should have been separate trials and that a disproportionately comprised jury decided Godbolt’s fate.

The state argued that Godbolt’s prior violent acts against his wife at the time show motive and evidence of his plan to kill.

Godbolt, now 42, is on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

The Associated Press contribute to this report.