An Elk County man, found guilty of murdering his teenage girlfriend, has taken his appeal of the conviction and subsequent life sentence to the state Superior Court after having it rejected by a county judge earlier this month.

Nicholas Martin, 25, filed his notice of appeal with the Superior Court last week. There was no timetable for a decision listed in online court records on Thursday.

The higher court will decide whether it sides with an Elk County judge who shot down Martin’s appeal earlier this month and with it defense claims that Martin’s March jury trial included prejudicial testimony from a state’s witness that left jurors more likely to convict Martin of a first-degree murder count, one carrying a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

Elk County President Judge Richard A. Masson, in his ruling, dismissed defense objections to the testimony, which had Martin allegedly holding down and attempting to force a kiss on a friend during an alcohol-fueled wrestling match at Martin’s Johnsonburg home. The incident was said to have occurred hours before Martin fatally stabbed his 18-year-old girlfriend, Alyssa Forsyth, more than 100 times in the apartment and later attempted to hide her body in the woods.

Masson disagreed that the testimony described a criminal act committed by Martin, one that might have left jurors more likely to throw the book at him for the unrelated murder.

The judge also tossed claims that the testimony, describing a homoerotic encounter reportedly initiated by Martin, may have played to jurors’ deep-seated prejudices or homophobias, leaving them similarly unsympathetic and inclined to convict.

Finally, Masson defended his earlier decision to allow the testimony to be heard at trial, saying the defense was given sufficient prior notice and that it spoke to Martin’s frame of mind at the time of Forsyth’s March 23, 2013 killing.