A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the first death sentence given in Vermont in almost 50 years, for a man who killed a Vermont supermarket worker as she prayed for her life.

Donald Fell is on death row in Terre Haute, Ind., after his 2005 conviction for carjacking and kidnapping.

Fell and an accomplice kidnapped Terry King, 53, from a supermarket, took her to New York state, and beat and kicked her to death in November 2000. Fell and his accomplice had earlier killed his mother and her companion.

In its decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said it was troubled that the government elicited information from witnesses at the trial that Fell had satanic beliefs and tattoos, but found the information had no effect on the outcome.

Fell’s lawyers had argued that the information was irrelevant and was meant to demonize him and frighten the jury.

The appeals court said the government should not have exposed the satanic beliefs and tattoos without the ability to make a strong connection between the information and Fell’s motives to kill.

The appeals court said the strength of government’s case “convinces us that Fell ... cannot show that any error prejudicially affected substantial rights.”

The court also said Judge William Sessions presided over the “complicated and difficult trial with care, fairness and an exemplary concern for the protection of Fell’s rights.”

Alexander Bunin, Fell’s public defender, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Darrow did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Before trial, former Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected a plea deal in which Fell would have been sentenced to life in prison.

Friday’s ruling was the first time since the 1960s that the 2nd Circuit decided whether the death penalty was a fair sentence for an individual.