A state appellate court has rejected the appeal of a Roman Catholic priest who died in prison while serving time in a Philadelphia abuse case.
The Rev. Charles Engelhardt insisted he was wrongly convicted at his 2013 trial.
The 67-year-old priest was serving a 6- to 12-year sentence. He died in November, weeks after his appeal was argued.
He died after a brief hospital stay that followed heart-related problems.
His lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment on Wednesday's ruling by the state appeals court.
The accuser said he was abused by two priests and a teacher at a North Philadelphia parish in the 1990s.
Engelhardt belonged to the Delaware-based Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.
Copyright The Associated Press
