BATON ROUGE — On Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said a convicted murderer's attempt to overturn his death sentence does not stand, keeping him on death row. 

An appellate judge ruled in favor of state prosecutors in the case of Todd Wessigner, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of restaurant manager Stephanie Guzzardo and cook David Breakwell during a robbery of Calendar's Restaurant in Baton Rouge in November 1995. 

Wessinger was sentenced to death row, but has since tried to overturn this sentence based on a claim involving his trial counsel. The Fifth Circuit ruled that the claim has already been presented and decided by state courts. The court found that just because a previously presented claim with additional evidence did not make it a new claim.

The Fifth Circuit reversed the state court's decision to grant Wessinger relief and ordered it to enter final judgment denying his petition.

"Today is a huge victory for justice and for the Guzzardo family, who have waited decades to see justice for their daughter, Stephanie. I promised Wayne and Carolyn Guzzardo that I would never stop fighting for them, and today we are one step closer to keeping that promise. We will ensure justice is finally done for Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell," Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. 

Murrill's office said that the Louisiana Department of Justice is "continuing to assess the next steps" in the Wessigner case.