The Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the petition for rehearing Chaz Higgs' conviction for murdering his wife, former state Controller Kathy Augustine.
The court denied his appeal in May. Higgs filed a petition for rehearing, arguing the court overlooked or misapprehended material facts in its earlier decision.
In an 11-page order, the high court rejected challenges arguing that FBI toxicologist Madeline Montgomery refused to turn over evidence. It quoted the defense expert Chip Walls as confirming during trial that Montgomery had been cooperative with the defense.
"There is no question that Higgs had the discovery necessary to conduct an effective cross-examination of Montgomery," the order states.
Walls never testified at the trial and Higgs argued he was deprived of due process by exclusion of that testimony.
"As we have discussed above, Walls was present, able and willing to testify at trial," the order states. "Higgs decision not to put Walls on the stand at trial was just that - his decision."
The order was signed by four members of the court with Kristina Pickering recusing herself from the case.
Higgs was convicted of murdering Augustine by injecting her with succinylcholine, a paralytic drug.
Higgs was an emergency room nurse at the time. Another nurse testified he had said at one point that if he was going to kill someone he would use that drug since it was nearly untraceable.