INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of Jason Gaboian, who was sentenced to 53 years in prison last year for shooting and fatally stabbing a Gary man he thought had raped his stripper girlfriend after a night of partying.

In an unanimous decision issued late Wednesday, a three-judge appellate panel denied Gaboian's attempts to throw out his confession and evidence collected during a search without a warrant of the Hobart apartment he shared with Ashley Lawrence.

Hobart police came to the Cressmoor Park apartment on the evening of March 27, 2007, after receiving a call from Gaboian's father, who told police there may have been a shooting there and he was worried his son might attempt suicide. By then, Gaboian and Lawrence, 20, had dumped the body of Deshun Bennett, 25, in Gary and taken his car to a chop shop.

Hobart police noticed blood stains on Gaboian's pants when he answered the apartment door. The officers asked Gaboian if he was alright and he shook his head no and pointed to a blood stain just inside the apartment.

"I shot him because he was raping my girlfriend, and I dumped his body in Gary," Gaboian told the officers, motioning them to enter the apartment.

Gaboian asked the appeals court to throw out a similar statement he made while in custody six hours later, contending he had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol. But the court rejected the argument, ruling that "a confession is rendered inadmissible due to intoxication only when an accused is so intoxicated that he is unaware of what he is saying."

Lawrence admitted she woke up Gaboian in the early morning hours of March 27, claimed she had been raped by Bennett and handed Gaboian cocaine and a handgun.

Lawrence later said the sex with Bennett, who frequented the Gary club where she worked, was consensual. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the killing.