A panel of state Superior Court judges has rejected the appeal of a man who fired a gun at his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend through the third-floor window of her Tamaqua apartment in 2006.

Kareem Mills, now 33, of New York City, now in the state prison at Frackville, lost his appeal because he waited too long to file it, the judges ruled.Mills on Sept. 12, 2007, was convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal trespass, discharging a firearm in an occupied building, simple assault, and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.On Nov. 1, 2007, he was sentenced to 11-22 years in state prison. He appealed, but past the time limit.On June 10, Superior Court President Judge Emeritus John T. Bender, and judges Sallie Updyke Mundy and Patricia H. Jenkins also rejected Mills' appeal. Their six-page ruling was filed Aug. 18 in Schuylkill County.According to court documents and testimony, at 9 p.m. on March 13, 2006, Mills tried to get into the apartment of his former girlfriend, Kelly Dalessio, who lived at 36 W. Broad St. Dalessio told police Mills had called her, asking to be let in so he could collect his clothes.She told him no, because her new boyfriend, Donald Watts, was there. Dalessio told Mills she would bring the clothes out to him instead.Then she heard a loud bang, she told police. She thought Mills had kicked in the door. She heard another bang on the kitchen window.Watts, with Dalessio's two young daughters, went into the kitchen to investigate while Dalessio stayed in the bedroom.Watts pulled open the blinds, only to see Mills pointing a gun at him. Mills fired, then came through the broken window, brandishing the gun.Watts jumped out another window while the girls hid behind a bed.Mills fled to New York City, but was caught on May 3, 2006.