A judge has denied request for a retrial for a man convicted of the 2012 murder of a Belton man.

27-year-old Chance Deallen Keller requested a retrial during a hearing on Friday after the district attorney’s office received a letter from an inmate claiming to have heard another prisoner bragging about committing the murder and laughing at the news of Keller’s conviction. The gun used to shoot and kill 20-year-old Stephen Wright of Belton was linked to Keller, but Keller claims the gun fell from his pocket and was picked up by 22-year-old Brandon Hargett, the man the letter claims actually shot Wright during a drug deal gone bad.

Keller is currently serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the murder.

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