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N.D. (AP) – A 31-year-old man sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars for shooting and beheading a North Dakota State University researcher is appealing his conviction. Daniel Wacht is serving a life sentence without hope of parole in the killing of Kurt Johnson of Cooperstown.

The Grand Forks Herald reports that defense attorney Steve Mottinger indicated he will appeal state District Judge James Hovey’s denial of the defense’s attempt to suppress evidence found in Wacht’s rented house. Mottinger argued previously the probable cause provided by investigators to get three warrants to search Wacht’s van and home was insufficient.

On the third search, Johnson’s severed head with a bullet hole in the forehead was found buried under two feet of dirt in the crawl space in Wacht’s basement.