The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case of a man convicted of fatally stabbing a San Gabriel resident whose body was discovered in 2002 at a parking lot at the Port of Long Beach.

Stewart Maua Teofilo was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Maurice Howard, who was found dead near Pier E on June 24, 2002, inside a 1985 Chevrolet Blazer registered to the victim’s wife.

The 33-year-old victim had been stabbed 41 times. Teofilo was convicted in August 2016 of first-degree murder, but a state appellate court panel subsequently reduced his conviction to second-degree murder and lowered his 25-year-to-life sentence to 15 years to life.

In its Sept. 19 ruling, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed with the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that Teofilo killed Howard with premeditation and deliberation.

“The undeniable brutality of the killing and the multiple stab wounds are not enough to show that Teofilo acted with careful thought and weighing of considerations,” the panel found. “Nothing supports a conclusion that Teofilo formed an intent to kill Howard upon preexisting reflection, actual deliberation, or forethought.”

Teofilo appealed the case again shortly after that ruling, submitting a petition for review to the State Supreme Court in October, according to court records.

A substantial amount of physical evidence was collected at the crime scene, with cold case investigators eventually submitting evidence to the Los AngelesCounty Crime Lab for DNA testing. In May 2014, detectives received information that a DNA profile resulted in a match to Teofilo, who had connections to LongBeach.

Teofilo—who lived in the central California city of Patterson—was arrested in Modesto in April 2015 while appearing in court on an unrelated case.