Thursday’s Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on Randy Swaney’s appeal puts to rest a Rock County murder case that’s approaching 10 years old.

The state’s highest court issued an opinion Thursday morning that upholds the lower court’s ruling on the case.

“We are pleased with the result and well-satisfied,” said Rock County Attorney Don Klosterbuer. 

“It means that the conviction was upheld and we now avoid the need to retry the case. The process worked as it should.”

Swaney, now 40, is serving a life sentence in prison for the May 20, 2001, murder of 20-year-old Carrie Nelson in the Blue Mounds State Park.

In August 2008 a jury in Rock County District Court found Swaney guilty of all seven murder charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Swaney and his legal counsel filed an appeal, asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to overturn his conviction.

During his sentence hearing on Aug. 15, 2008, he told Nelson’s family that “her killer is still out there.”

He has maintained he is innocent and deserves a new trial. His attorneys took issue with how evidence and witness testimony was handled during his trial.

Essentially Swaney asked for a new trial, and the Supreme Court justices heard the appeal in November 2008. Their ruling Thursday, however, denies that request.

“This should be the end of it,” Klosterbuer said. “It brings the issue to a final conclusion, and that’s good for Carrie’s family and the community. It’s good to have complete closure to it.”

Authorities believe Swaney beat Nelson to death with a decorative rock during a robbery in the park office. 

Swaney wasn’t charged until May 2007, six years after the murder, when new scientific developments uncovered DNA that placed him at the murder scene.

Swaney is serving out his life sentence in the Stillwater State Prison.