WARREN — Jacob LaRosa, convicted in 2015 for fatally beating and attempting to rape a 94-year-old woman, had an appeal for postconviction relief denied Monday.

Retired Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay in December 2022 ruled that LaRosa was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a petition for postconviction relief.

Now, a three-judge panel of the 11th District Ohio Court of Appeals has sided with the state.

McKay had sentenced LaRosa to life in prison for the beating death and attempted rape of Marie Belcastro of Niles. LaRosa was a teenager at the time of the attack.

Belcastro was a neighbor of LaRosa.

Trial evidence showed LaRosa struck the woman several times in the head with a heavy flashlight before dragging her body to a bedroom of her home, where he tried to rape her.

Previous attempts to challenge the convictions at the court of appeals and Ohio Supreme Court proved unsuccessful, with both ruling against him.

LaRosa then tried filing a petition for postconviction relief with McKay, claiming he had ineffective counsel, legal counsel should have sought a change of venue and his no contest plea should have been set aside.