BROOKVILLE, Pa.—A western Pennsylvania man serving a life sentence for killing a couple while robbing them of a rare coin collection has filed a Superior Court appeal—and his trial judge has filed an answer as to why it shouldn't be granted.

The Bradford Era reports (http://bit.ly/SuG8mP) 46-year-old Steven Rebert, of Emporium, contends Jefferson County Judge John Foradora was biased because he had earlier issued police search warrants in the case. Foradora says the warrants were proper and that trial evidence supported the probable cause for them.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but Rebert was sentenced to life without parole after the jury deadlocked after the trial's penalty phase in January.

The jury convicted Rebert of murdering James and Victoria Shugar in April 2010 in their Snyder Township home, about 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

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Information from: The Bradford Era, http://www.bradfordera.com