The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the ineffective counsel claim of a condemned man from New Orleans who killed a Fayetteville couple in 2007.

Decay, now 29, was sentenced to death twice by a Washington County jury in 2008 for fatally shooting Kevin Jones and his girlfriend, Kendall Rachel Rice, both 24, in their Fayetteville apartment in April 2007. Jones and Rice were natives of Fort Smith.

The high court denied Decay’s initial appeal in November 2009, but remanded the case to circuit court in May 2013 on Decay’s subsequent appeal, arguing he had ineffective counsel at trial.

Circuit Court Judge William Storey rejected Decay’s claim of ineffective counsel but failed to provide a written finding for his decision. Upon Storey providing written findings, the case returned to the Supreme Court.

Decay claimed ineffective counsel in five areas: his trial counsel failed to develop and present mitigation evidence; failed to object to the prosecutor’s comment that Decay failed to testify; failed to object to the prosecutor’s statement Decay would be eligible for parole if sentenced to life in prison without parole; and failed to present the defense of his choice.

The justices found the first three claims had no merit based on the trial record and his trial counsel explained during a hearing before Storey why he didn’t follow Decay’s wishes regarding his defense.

The attorney explained Decay wanted to present a denial defense, but Decay’s confession and recorded phone calls Decay made to his family while in jail corroborated physical evidence that incriminated Decay, and Decay’s desire not to testify made it problematic to argue Decay wasn’t even present when Jones and Rice were killed, according to the opinion issued Thursday.

Jones was a 2001 Southside graduate who moved to Fayetteville to be closer to his parents. Rice had just moved to Fayetteville, and most recently had worked at the Electric Cowboy in Fort Smith. She attended Greenwood schools as well as Southside.

Decay was an evacuee from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He came to northwest Arkansas in search of a better life, according to 2008 trial coverage.

Jesse Westeen, who drove Decay to the couple’s apartment, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of being an accomplice to first-degree murder. He was given 25 years on each count, to run consecutively.

One of three teens accused in a brutal gang rape on Christmas Day 2012 pleaded guilty Thursday to indecent deviate sexual intercourse, carjacking, kidnap and robbery.

Kewon Matthews, 18, of the first block of North Millbourne Street in Millbourne will be sentenced March 4 pending a presentence investigation and evaluation by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board to determine whether he is a sexually violent predator.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Galantino told Judge Mary Alice Brennan that he would recommend a sentence of 17-34 years in a state correctional facility with six years of probation and lifetime registration as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.

The 22-year-old victim testified at a preliminary hearing in March that Matthews, Brehon La-Vaan Rawlings, 20, of the 400 block of Arbor Road, Yeadon, and Kevin Jones, 18, of Pemberton Street, Philadelphia, forced her into the passenger seat of her 1995 Jeep Cherokee at gunpoint at about 11:30 p.m. Dec. 25 while parked in the lot of George’s Water Ice, 7150 Marshall Road.

The mother of a 2-year-old said she had left nearby Rudy’s Tavern and sat in her car while smoking a cigarette. The three men allegedly came from behind the vehicle. One had a facemask and a gun and ordered the victim into the passenger seat, smacking her in the face with it as she tried to exit the vehicle.

The woman testified that the men ransacked her purse and asked about her bank card PIN. She was later forced into the back of the car and ordered to perform sexual acts despite the fact that she was crying, gagging and vomiting.

The driver also entered the back seat and raped the woman, according to her testimony.

“I was face down,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”

The victim said her assailants also used her cellphone to make calls and forced her to talk to her mother, who had called numerous times.

After the five-hour ordeal, the men parked the car under a residential deck on Long Lane, across from Galway’s Pub in Upper Darby. The woman recalled smelling kerosene used to wipe away fingerprints. She went to a payphone to call her boyfriend after the men left and he took her to the police station to report the crime.

All three defendants were picked up within a day and allegedly admitted their guilt during an interview with Detective Brad Ross.

Matthews, represented by attorney John McLaughlin, had moved for decertification because he was 17 at the time of the assault, but Brennan found the juvenile system would not benefit him. She pointed to the nature of the crimes, his prior contact with law enforcement and involvement in the juvenile system, a below-average intellectual function, lack of remorse and denial of responsibility as factors in her decision.

Jones, represented by defense attorney Rhonda Lowe, was also 17 at the time and was likewise denied decertification Thursday. Galantino noted the crime occurred just four months before Jones’ 18th birthday.

“This is a horrific case,” he said. “The impact on the victim is almost unimaginable. The impact on the community, I would suggest, is only minimized by the prompt police work in catching these three individuals very quickly, so that the impact on the community as limited to one night, but it was Christmas night.”

Jones was offered the same deal as Matthews, but denied taking it, against his attorney’s advice. The charges against him include rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, indecent assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, robbery, carjacking, theft, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and conspiracy. Jones is scheduled for trial before Brennan on March 4. He faces up to 158 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Rawlings, represented by attorney Coley Reynolds, was 19 at the time of the assault. He is scheduled for a status conference on Dec. 16, also before Brennan.