Nikolaos Kotsopoulos, of Manhasset, loses fourth attempt to set aside murder conviction for killing his wife in 2002

A Manhasset man convicted of fatally shooting his wife in the face in front of one of their sons during the Easter holiday in 2002 lost his fourth bid to set aside his conviction this week.

State Supreme Court Justice Terence Murphy on Tuesday roundly rejected legal arguments by Nikolaos Kotsopoulos, 62, that his second-degree murder conviction should be vacated and he should be offered a retrial.

His guilty verdict for murder in the second degree, referred to as depraved indifference murder, is not supported by the facts of the case, Kotsopoulos' lawyer Jonathan Edelstein argued in court papers.

Either Kotsopoulos intended to kill his wife when he pistol-whipped her and aimed a gun at her head on May 4, 2002, in which case he should have been charged with first-degree murder, or he accidentally pulled the trigger while hitting her with the gun. In that case, he should have been charged with manslaughter, the defense had argued.

Murphy wrote in his decision that the case had been settled in the appellate court and prior motions, meaning Kotsopoulos was barred from bringing the case back before the court. The judge also said the arguments were "wrong on the law and on the merits."

It was a case that gripped Long Island.

Kotsopoulos, a meat purveyor to restaurants, had been arguing with his wife, Carol, the night before the murder, authorities said. The next day, as his sons, 10 and 12, were watching TV and his wife was preparing Easter dinner, the couple began arguing again.

Originally, he told police that a masked intruder came into the house and shot his wife dead, a story he maintained through the trial.

Prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder based on the testimony of his son, George, who said he saw his father shoot his mother in the face.

"I saw my dad shoot my mom," Newsday reported him testifying during the trial.

A Nassau County jury convicted him in less than four hours. The judge sentenced him to 25 years to life behind bars.

The younger son, Nick, wrote a letter to the judge saying, "I think my dad should stay in jail all his life."

In 2009, Kotsopoulos appealed his conviction, admitting for the first time that he had shot his wife, but said he was only trying to scare her with the gun, which he said accidentally fired.

"Suddenly it went off," Newsday reported he said in the appeal. "Boom. I saw my wife go down. I ran over. I said, 'Honey, are you all right?'"

He also said his lawyer was promised a $100,000 bonus for an acquittal and did not properly represent him.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt denied his appeal, saying he didn’t believe his story about the lawyer’s bonus and noted it took six years for him to admit he killed his wife.

Kotsopoulos made two other attempts to overturn the verdict, in 2005 and 2017, saying both times that his legal representation was insufficient, the prosecutor acted unethically and the crime he was accused of was not supported by the facts.

Each time Kotsopoulos was denied.

Edelstein, his lawyer in the latest attempt, declined to comment on the motion.

The son, George Kotsopoulos, now 35, declined to comment other than saying he’s "thankful" the judge denied the motion.

His father, however, will have another opportunity to get out of prison in July when he comes before the New York State Parole Board, an inevitability that the judge presiding over his trial considered.

"Someday you may come before a parole board," state Supreme Court Justice Donald Belfi said in June 2003 when he sentenced Kotsopoulos. "It is my strong hope and desire that you may never see the light of freedom."