ND Supreme Court rejects appeal of man who hired hit man to kill son-in-law

FARGO - The North Dakota Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man convicted in 2011 of hiring a hit man to kill his son-in-law.
Gene Kirkpatrick sought to shorten his sentence, which is for life without parole, in a post-conviction relief lawsuit filed last year. The state Supreme Court rejected his request Thursday.
Kirkpatrick, an Oklahoma man who was 64 years old when convicted, claimed that one of his attorneys gave him bad advice, causing him to reject a plea deal that would have made him eligible for parole.
Kirkpatrick also blamed another attorney for telling him not to testify at trial.
In a summary judgment, the state Supreme Court wrote that it did not side with Kirkpatrick’s argument that “his trial attorney’s conduct fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and he was prejudiced by his trial attorney’s recommendation not to testify at trial.”