Troy Michael Kell - who stabbed victim Lonnie Blackmon 67 times on July 6, 1994, at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison - claimed there were errors in his prosecution and sentencing that violated his constitutional right to a fair trial.

In addition, he claimed he received ineffective assistance from his attorneys during post-conviction proceedings.

However, prosecutors said overwhelming evidence showed that nothing the attorneys could have done would have saved the killer from a conviction and death sentence.

A 6th District judge dismissed Kell's appeal and the Utah Supreme Court's unanimous ruling upheld the dismissal.

Blackmon, 32, who was serving a sentence for robbery and theft, had been transferred to the Gunnison facility from Arkansas as part of a prisoner-exchange program.

Kell, then 26, was serving two life terms for kidnapping and killing a man outside Las Vegas. Kell was also in Utah on a prisoner exchange.

Prosecutors said Kell is a racist who killed Blackmon because he was black. Kell insisted he had acted in self-defense because Blackmon had threatened his life.

Other inmates were prosecuted for holding Blackmon down during the stabbing. The state of Utah, while denying wrongdoing, paid $175,000 to Blackmon's family to settle a lawsuit.

Pending in U.S. District Court is a lawsuit involving another attack by Kell on a fellow inmate. In that case, Jacques Miranda, who is black and a practicing Muslim, claims he was harassed by corrections officers and other inmates after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The harassment culminated on Sept. 20, 2001, when two officers allegedly opened Kell's cell door and allowed Kell into a common area, where he beat Miranda, according to the suit. Miranda says he suffered a permanent debilitating injury in the attack.

pmanson@sltrib.com