IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a woman serving life in prison for the 2001 fatal shooting of a neighbor in her Iowa home.  The court on Wednesday rejected Tracey Richter‘s argument that prosecutors failed to overcome her claim that the shooting of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde was in self-defense.

Richter shot and killed Wehde in her home in the Sac County town of Early. She maintains that she shot Wehde to protect herself and her three children after Wehde and another man invaded her home. Prosecutors say the home invasion claim was a hoax, and that Richter killed Wehde as part of a plot to frame her ex-husband.

The court says there was “substantial evidence” from which jurors could conclude the killing wasn’t justified.