Nebraska court rejects appeal of man who killed 2 in crash

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected a post-conviction appeal of a man serving two 15-to-20-year prison sentences for causing a 2014 crash in southeastern Nebraska that killed two people.

The state's high court on Friday found that Edward Koch, of Quincy, Illinois, filed his motion for post-conviction after the one-year deadline following the rejection of his direct appeal. Koch had argued om the post-conviction motion that his lawyer was so inept that it cost him a fair trial.

Investigators say Koch was drunk and driving his car nearly 90 mph in a 60 mph zone in September 2014 when he slammed into the back of another car, killing 23-year-old Matt Kirchhoff of Weeping Water and 22-year-old Emily Widger of Lincoln. Kirchhoff and Widger were engaged to be married.