A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of a former Millbrae policeman convicted of committing six brutal murders related to drugs and prostitution in 1983 while he ran an electrical contracting business in a Burlingame warehouse.

In appealing his convictions and death sentence, Anthony "Jack" Sully's lawyer argued that he was represented incompetently by his trial lawyer, who did not investigate evidence that Sully was mentally ill. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found no reason to believe the evidence would have persuaded the San Mateo County jury to spare his life.

The prosecution's case at the sentencing phase of the trial was "staggering," the court said, including "evidence that Sully derived pleasure from torturing his six murder victims and mutilating their bodies."

He also viciously raped three women who survived, the court said. And in an earlier incident, Sully's ex-wife testified that when they separated in 1975, he twisted the heads off her daughter's pet ducklings, left the carcasses in the yard, and told her he could do the same thing to the child.

Sully, now 69, was a policeman for eight years before leaving to start his contracting business. At the same time, the court said, he became addicted to cocaine and invested in an "escort service" that employed prostitutes.

The murders took place over a six-month period. The court said Sully tied up and raped the first victim, a prostitute named Gloria Fravel, then strangled her, with the help of the escort service owner, and dumped her body alongside Skyline Boulevard.

The other victims were three prostitutes, a man who may have been a pimp, and a woman who offered to sell Sully cocaine, the court said. Three of the bodies were found in Golden Gate Park, stuffed in barrels that contained Sully's fingerprints, the court said.

Sully denied committing the murders and blamed others, including the escort service owner, Tina Livingston, who pleaded guilty to an accessory charge, testified against Sully and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Sully's federal appeal included a psychiatrist's declaration that he had suffered from "acute cocaine psychosis" that aggravated his long-standing mental disorders and made him incompetent to assist his trial lawyer.

But Judge Sidney Thomas, in the appeals court's 3-0 ruling, said the transcript of the trial showed that Sully was "fully aware of the nature and seriousness of the proceedings," and he gave "an extended and lucid statement" at the penalty phase.