The lawyer for Ryan Widmer, convicted for the 2008 drowning death of his wife, filed a second appeal Wednesday to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The high court declined the first appeal by a 4-3 vote.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor wanted to accept the case based on the the constitutionality of ripping the bathtub out of the Warren County home and the body part impression testimony. Justice Paul Pfeifer also dissented from the majority, but the court docket didn’t say why. Justice Sharon Kennedy from Butler County also was interested in probing the question about the alleged hairy forearm print that was found on the tub.

Michelle Berry-Godsey’s second appeal asks the justices to consider whether Widmer’s request to have his wife Sarah’s DNA tested to see if she suffered from Long QT — a rare disorder that causes people to pass out and drown when they are near or in a body of water — should have been allowed.

The 12th District Court of Appeals reasoned the state statutes refer only to testing of the defendant’s biological tissue and declined to broaden the scope.

Prosecutor David Fornshell said he doesn’t think this appeal will pass muster either.

“In this particular case they are wanting to go back after the fact and do DNA testing so they can bolster an argument they already made, that the jury rejected, and that neither proves or disproves whether in fact he did kill her,” he said. “I don’t think there is any way the Ohio Supreme Court is going to reopen the case under those circumstances.”

The Supreme Court only accepts about 7 percent to 12 percent of discretionary appeals filed. Widmer’s father, Gary, has said he thinks his son has a better chance of getting a new trial at the federal court level.

Widmer is serving a 15-year to life sentence for the 2008 drowning death of his wife. The first trial in 2009 ended in a mistrial over juror misconduct. The second jury was hung and a third jury found him guilty in 2011.