A northwest Iowa man found guilty of killing his adopted son has lost another appeal. A three-week trial was held in 2002 and Donald Boss of Remsen was convicted of murdering his adopted son, Timothy, who was 10 when he died. The child’s body was found buried in the basement of the family’s home.

The Iowa Court of Appeals has once before upheld Boss’s conviction. Boss filed another appeal, complaining that his lawyer was ineffective for pursuing a “blame Lisa” defense. Lisa is his wife. The Court of Appeals has ruled the that while Boss’s lawyer used a “novel” strategy to try to secure a not-guilty verdict, it doesn’t mean the approach was ineffective or unreasonable, given the circumstances.

Boss also complained about other things, like the way his lawyer questioned his 15-year-old son who testified during the trial. Boss suggests the teenager’s story about his brother’s death kept changing and his lawyer didn’t highlight that enough during the trial.

The Iowa Court of Appeals has rejected the complaints from Boss and upheld his conviction again. In November of 2003 Lisa Boss pleaded guilty to attempt to commit murder, voluntary manslaughter, felony child endangerment and willful injury.