Killer's petition rejected

SANDPOINT - The Idaho Court of Appeals is rejecting convicted killer Darryl Robin Kuehl's second attempt at obtaining post-conviction relief.

Kuehl is serving a life sentence for the 1994 murder of Paul Gruber, a retired schoolteacher who lived at Muskrat Lake. Kuehl was also convicted of forgery and grand theft in connection with Gruber's slaying.

Gruber's body was discovered in his own home's crawl space in 1995. Kuehl was accused of shooting the 53-year-old Gruber to death and then assuming his identity to cover up the crime.

Kuehl, 61, has maintained his innocence and contends somebody else killed Gruber, hijacked the slain man's identity and framed him.

A Bonner County jury convicted Kuehl in 1997.

Since then, the case became fodder for true-crime documentary television programs, while Kuehl embarked on a protracted legal odyssey to undo the conviction.

A direct appeal of his conviction was rejected in 2002. A petition for post-conviction relief met a similar fate in 2008. But while that petition was pending, Kuehl filed a second petition, which asserted ineffective assistance of counsel on his direct appeal and other claims for relief.

Kuehl is imprisoned at the Idaho Correctional Center in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. Kuehl is eligible for parole in 2034, at which point he'll be 84.