The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld its interpretation that a repeal of Nebraska’s death penalty never happened because a referendum petition was filed days before legislation would have converted death row inmates’ sentences into life sentences.

Last Friday, the court rejected the latest appeal of a Texas man on Nebraska’s death row who killed two Grand Island men in 2007, upholding its previous decisions in State v. Jenkins and State v. Mata regarding the Nebraska Legislature’s failed attempt to abolish the death penalty in 2015.

Legislators passed L.B. 268 and overrode a gubernatorial veto in May 2015. Because it lacked an emergency clause, the bill would have gone into law effective Aug. 30, 2015. A referendum petition was filed Aug. 26, 2015, and its signatures were certified as valid on Oct. 16, 2015.

“Enough signatures were verified to suspend the operation of L.B. 268 until the referendum was approved or rejected by the electors at the upcoming election,” the court wrote in State v. Mata.

Voters rejected the bill in the November 2016 election, meaning the bill never became law.

Marco Torres Jr., formerly of Pasadena, Texas, had sought post-conviction relief after being sentenced to death for two counts of first-degree murder and other counts in the robbery and shooting deaths of Timothy Donohue, 48, and Edward Hall, 60.

Torres argued that his death sentence should be converted to life in prison based on the Legislature’s vote to repeal the state’s death penalty. Torres argued in the appeal that the referendum process to reinstate Nebraska’s capital punishment and his death sentence amounted to violations of his constitutional due process rights and against cruel and unusual punishment.

The state’s high court rejected Torres’ arguments, saying it found no merit to his claims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.