Thomas Zowasky convicted in Burlington County for having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl when he was 45.
The N.J. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by a sex offender who had a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl for almost a year.
Thomas Zowasky, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence, lost an appeals court decision earlier this year, in which he argued he had ineffective counsel at this trial and and once again attacked the use of a videotape statement he gave to police.
Thomas ZowaskyThe April decision was an appeal of his unsuccessful 2014 bid for post-conviction relief.
Zowasky was first convicted a decade ago in Burlington County for having a sexual relationship with the girl in 2003 and 2004, when he was 45-years-old.
He was a welder living in a Bordentown Township motel at the time, and the assaults occurred there, and in Pemberton Township and Cinnaminson, police said.
In 2009, an appeals court reversed his convictions and ordered a new trial due to problems with the way polygraph evidence was introduced at trial, and how the jury reviewed Zowasky's videotaped statement to investigators.
At his second trial, Zowasky was convicted again of multiple sex offenses and a judge imposed the same 45-year term.
Zowasky mounted a second appeal in 2012 and the case was upheld.
The 57-year-old is currently at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton and eligible for parole in 2042.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.