Convicted murderer Kevin Hilton is seeking another chance at an appeal.

Hilton's attorney, Lenell Nussbaum of Seattle, has filed for reconsideration of an appellate court decision last month that upheld Hilton's conviction for the 2002 deaths of Larry and Josephine Ulrich.

Hilton twice has been found guilty of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder, but the first conviction in Benton County was overturned because of invalid search warrants.

The second trial in 2008 took place in Asotin County because of extensive media coverage in the Tri-Cities. That trial resulted in a life sentence for Hilton.

He appealed the second conviction, but the conviction was upheld in an opinion issued in late September.

Hilton now wants the court to reconsider its conclusions in the September opinion that the judge in the 2008 trial had not abused his discretion by admitting evidence of Hilton's poverty.

The appellate court wrote that Hilton had not challenged in his appeal the ruling admitting the evidence, but his attorney said that Hilton had intended to challenge the ruling and thought he had done so.

In particular, Hilton objected to the use of evidence of his financial status to make implications about his character rather than solely as evidence of his possible motive in the crime.

Hilton was unemployed at the time of the Ulriches' deaths and owed them $3,475 in rent and penalties for the Richland duplex he leased from the couple.

Hilton never disputed that he owed back rent or had been served a three-day notice to pay or move out, Nussbaum said in the motion for reconsideration.

But Hilton's attorney argued other references to Hilton's financial status were inappropriate.

"The repeated references to being behind on child support, borrowing from his mother and girlfriend, having no work or income, and the prosecutor's arguments on these issues went far beyond the limited relevance and purpose for which the court admitted this evidence," Nussbaum said.