Michael Gore was 21 when he killed Victoria Colton in 2000 after she caught him stealing from her purse.
TRENTON -- A Hamilton man who strangled and stabbed a Trenton woman he regarded as his grandmother in 2000 lost another appeal Monday.
Michael Gore was 21-years-old when he killed Victoria Colton in August of 2000 after she caught him stealing cash and a bank card from her purse in her Garfield Avenue home.
Michael Gore A state appeals court on Tuesday denied his second bid for post-conviction relief, the latest in several appeals he's sought in the past decade.
Colton, 85, raised's Gore's mother, and while not officially related, he regarded Colton as his grandmother, calling her Mimi.
Gore strangled Colton with a telephone cord, then cut her throat and stuffed pants in her mouth when he realized she was still alive. Gore's mother and another relative found Colton dead in her home.
Gore was convicted of murder and related offenses at trial in 2005, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole.
An appeals court, though, ordered a new trial for Gore in 2009, finding jurors should not have been able to hear about Gore's confession to Trenton police, which was incomplete and unsigned.
The state Supreme Court then reversed that decision, finding the trial court judge made an inexplicable error, but it did not lead to an unjust result. Gore was then re-sentenced while behind bars.
In a second bid for post-conviction relief, Gore and his lawyer argued that a 2014 post-conviction bid was erroneously denied without a hearing, plus Gore did not receive adequate counsel at his trial.
A state appeals court was unmoved by the arguments, it said in the Tuesday ruling.
Gore is currently incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton and is eligible for parole in 2044, records show.
Colton was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and retired from the Internal Revenue Service.
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