HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut's top court has rejected the appeal of a convicted murderer who argued the jury was tainted by testimony from a witness who said God helped him identify the defendant in a photo array.

The state Supreme Court ruled 7-0 Tuesday in the case of Pedro Miranda. He is serving a life sentence for the 1987 killing of 13-year-old Mayra Cruz, who disappeared while walking to school in Hartford.

The witness testified he saw Mayra get into a car and that God later helped him identify Miranda in a police photo array.

Miranda is serving a second life sentence for the 1988 slaying of a 17-year-old girl for which an innocent man served more than two decades behind bars.

Miranda also was charged but not tried in a third teenage girl's killing.