COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a woman and her two young children.

The court’s 6-1 ruling Thursday comes in the case of Curtis Clinton, sentenced to die for killing 23-year-old Heather Jackson and her 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son in Sandusky in northern Ohio in 2012.

Court records say the victims were strangled. Clinton was also convicted during his jury trial of raping the 3-year-old girl. The 46-year-old Clinton denied the charges.

The court rejected arguments from Clinton’s attorneys that allegations he choked and raped a 17-year-old girl a week earlier shouldn’t have been used as evidence to bolster the case against him in the family’s killing.

Clinton’s attorney declined to comment.