The Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected the application of a Co Dublin man, convicted of murdering a Co Tipperary farmer in 1996, that he should be allowed to appeal to the Supreme Court on "a point of law of exceptional public importance".
Francis Palmer (32), Lucan, Co Dublin, and Ivor Sweetman (52), Tallaght, Dublin, were jailed for life in May 1997 when convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury of murdering Mr Danny Fanning at his home at Rosegreen, Cashel, Co Tipperary.
Both men were also convicted of having a shotgun at Mr Fanning's farm with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury or to enable another person to do so.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Hardiman, giving the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal, said that following the dismissal of an application by Palmer for leave to appeal against his conviction in March last year, he applied for a certificate under section 29 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924.
The question was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal was correct when holding that a baseball bat which was left to the jury as an exhibit and which was not of "probative value" in the absence of any evidence linking it to the murder was in all probability of no prejudicial effect and therefore not a basis for setting aside the conviction.
Yesterday, the court rejected Palmer's application that he should be allowed take his argument to the Supreme Court.
Mr Justice Hardiman said that his claims did not involve a point of law, let alone one of exceptional public importance.