A circuit court judge has ruled against Steven Avery's request for a substitute judge.

In her ruling filed Monday, Sheboygan County Judge Angela Sutkiewicz said the request is "premature."

She says the U.S. Court of Appeals still has jurisdiction over Avery's appeal, and the lower court "has limited jurisdiction to consider new evidence."

That new evidence is contained on a CD, which Avery's defense says contains previously undisclosed evidence in the case, including a forensic report, more than 14,000 photographs, and evidence taken from a computer used in the home of Avery's relatives.

Last month, the appellate court sent the evidence down to the circuit court to consider first. Avery's attorneys have until July 7 to submit their brief, then the court will issue a ruling on it within 60 days.

The court "has not, as the defendant asserts, been ordered to hold an evidentiary hearing in this matter," Judge Sutkiewicz wrote.

Avery is serving life in prison for the murder of Teresa Halbach, a freelance photographer whose cremains were found on his family's property shortly after her disappearance on October 31, 2005.