The highest court in Massachusetts has refused to overturn the conviction of a man found guilty of killing his wife.

Euclides Ortiz was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing 52-year-old Bernice Tejada to death in 2003. Tejada and Ortiz had married just three weeks earlier.

Ortiz disappeared after his wife’s body was found in the couple’s basement apartment in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood. Police later arrested him at a friend’s home in Chelsea.

In his appeal, Ortiz argued that his conviction should be overturned because of several errors made during his trial, including the prosecutor’s closing argument and the judge’s instruction to the jury.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday that there is no basis to set aside or reduce the verdict.