Chief Judge Everett Martin dismissed petitions filed by Danial Williams, Joseph Dick and Eric Wilson on March 2, reports the The Virginian-Pilot.

The three appealed to the Norfolk Circuit Court in June 2010, asking that their convictions of rape and murder in the 1997 death of Michelle Moore-Bosko be thrown out. Though they were given conditional pardons by then-Gov. Tim Kaine in 2009, the men still have criminal records and are required to register as sex offenders.

In his dismissal, the judge cited late filings, as well as a lack of evidence supporting the men’s claim that the recent conviction of former detective Robert Glenn Ford for extortion and lying to the FBI (in a separate case), had a direct connection to Ford’s questionable interrogations of the Norfolk Four.

Ford was a principle investigator and interrogator in the men’s cases, which FRONTLINE featured in its 2010 film The Confessions.