Thomas Nevius (submitted photo)
A Vineland man sentenced to 65 years in prison for killing a 52-year-old woman lost an appeal he made for post-conviction relief.
Thomas Nevius, 38, was found guilty in 2008 for the 2002 death of Ruth Walker. Nevius represented himself during the trial but utilized a standby attorney. In his appeal for post-conviction relief, he argued that he had ineffective counsel.
Nevius and William Boston were convicted of killing Boston’s neighbor, Ruth Walker, during a burglary. Walker was found dead on July 30, 2002, stabbed and strangled in her apartment. According to court documents, Nevius and Boston were seen attempting to break into Walker’s apartment the evening she died and evidence was found at the scene linking Nevius to the crime — a palm print left on Walker’s nightstand and a T-shirt stained with Walker’s blood at the scene that matches Nevius’ T-shirts and matched forensically to Nevius.
Following his 2008 sentence to 65 years in prison, Nevius filed an appeal in 2012 but his conviction was affirmed. He then petitioned for post-conviction relief but that was denied in 2015.
In January, he appealed the denial of post-conviction relief, arguing that his counsel erred not having an expert test the entire T-shirt that the prosecution was able to connect Nevius to.
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The original post-conviction relief judge did not find the argument convincing and the appellate division agreed — going as far to say that there was enough evidence beyond the T-shirt connecting him to Walker’s death. This includes Nevius admitting to being at Boston’s the night of the murder, a witness seeing them breaking into the apartment and the palm print left on the nightstand.
“That evidence was in stark contrast to defendant’s testimony at trial that he never went inside the victim’s apartment,” the decision states. “Furthermore, the bloody T-shirt found near the victim’s body was similar in size and type to the T-shirt found at defendant’s home.”
Nevius remains at New Jersey State Prison and is not set to be released until Jan. 7, 2059.
Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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