One of four men convicted of a murder in Carbon County that dates back to 1999 lost yet another appeal of that conviction in a ruling handed down by a county judge.

Myles Ramzee, 40, of Brooklyn, New York, had filed his sixth post-conviction hearing act petition seeking to overturn his conviction and asking for a new trial.Ramzee and three other Brooklyn residents Kaquwan Milligan, Dennis Boney, and Cetewayo Frails, were convicted in the 1997 murder of Tyrone Hill, also a Brooklyn resident, in an apartment in Palmerton. At the time authorities said the murder was the result of a drug turf dispute in which the four convicted were involved in drug dealing, as was Hill.The four were convicted by county juries and sentenced to life without parole by presiding Judge Richard W. Webb.Ramzee, who police said was the one who fired the fatal shot to the back of Hill's head, was tried separately.The case has cost county taxpayers over $100,000 because of the cost associated with the six-day trial, and various appeals filed by the four defendants since their convictions.To date all appeals filed, including those in federal court, have been denied.In the latest appeal, Judge Steven R. Serfass ruled that the appeal was not filed in a timely manner and that his court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.The appeal was the sixth filed by Ramzee, either by himself or court-appointed attorneys.At the time of the trials, all four defendants had local attorneys representing them and each also had an attorney from outside Carbon County represent them.In his latest appeal Ramzee, through new court-appointed attorney Michael P. Gough, claimed that his legal counsel at trial, held in 1999, was ineffective. His court-appointed attorneys for trial were Kent Watkins and Michael Muffley.Ramzee filed his first appeal under the Post Conviction Risk Assessment petition on June 18, 2001. The second PCRA was filed Feb. 7, 2005, the third on Aug. 3, 2010; fourth on March 19, 2012, and fifth on May 21, 2012. He also filed other petitions.He also filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2006, which was denied by that court on July 20, 2007.In reviewing the long history of the case and all of the appeals/petitions filed by Ramzee or his court-appointed legal counsel, Serfass ruled, "Defendant failed to file a proper PCRA petition within the one-year time limitation mandated" by state rules of criminal procedure. Serfass added that the judgment of sentence became final on Feb. 12, 2001.Serfass continued in his ruling, "Defendant has failed to demonstrate the applicability of any of the PCRA's three (3) statutory exceptions to the timeliness requirement set forth" (in state rules of procedure), which would allow him to extend the one-year time limitation."Serfass continued, "Therefore, this court lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of defendant's 'first amended petition for post-conviction relief' and said petition is denied accordingly."District Attorney Gary F. Dobias prosecuted the case. Dobias, who retired as full-time DA in August, represented the commonwealth at a hearing held by Serfass on the latest petition in September, as an unpaid assistant DA.At that hearing Dobias argued, among other things, that all the matters raised by Ramzee in the new PCRA were previously heard by the county court and state courts and all were denied.