A federal court has upheld the death sentence of Jeffrey Lynn Borden, who was convicted of murdering his wife and father-in-law on Christmas Eve of 1993 in Gardendale.

The 11th Court of Appeals in Atlanta dismissed Borden’s argument that his defense attorneys in the 1995 trial were ineffective, and let a ruling by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals stand.

Borden was convicted of murdering his wife, Cheryl Harris Borden, and her father, Ronald Dean Harris, while Cheryl Borden and the couple’s three children were living with her parents to escape Jeffrey Borden’s physical abuse.

Barring an appeal and a stay or reversal by the United States Supreme Court, the way is now paved for Jeffrey Harris to be executed at the Holman Correctional Facility, where he has been imprisoned since 1996.

We’ll have more on this breaking story in Saturday’s edition of The North Jefferson News.