NORTHAMPTON — A man serving two life sentences for murdering a seven-months-pregnant woman in a 2005 gas station robbery has been denied a new trial.

Dennis M. Bateman, 55, of Greenfield, was denied in his motion for a new trial by Massachusetts Superior Court Justice John A. Agostini.

According to a statement from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, in Hampshire County Superior Court in May, Bateman appealed to Agostini that he had not received a fair trial before he was convicted in 2007. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Townsend and First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne opposed the motion for a new trial at that hearing.

“We’re pleased with the thorough and thoughtful decision of Judge Agostini in denying the defendant’s motion for a new trial,” Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said. “And we look forward to defending these convictions in the Supreme Judicial Court.”

In 2007, Bateman was convicted of murder in the first degree for strangling Deerfield Sunoco gas station attendant Brandy M. Waryasz, 21, having caused the deaths of both Waryasz and her unborn son.

The jury determined that Waryasz, who was found dead with a black nylon strap tied tightly around her neck, was killed by Bateman, whom prosecutors had described as a crack cocaine addict and career thief. Witnesses said Bateman was at the gas station shortly before the murder, and his DNA was also found on the nylon strap, as well as under Waryasz’s fingernails — indicating she had apparently tried to fight him off.

Bateman was also found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

In May, Bateman claimed before Agostini that the trial was unfair because the testimony of two inmates, Anthony Bogacz and Debrie Sweeney, violated his “right to counsel”; that the state did not disclose exculpatory evidence; that a former cellmate of Bogacz’s claimed Bogacz lied about Bateman’s incriminatory statements; that the case’s “extensive publicity” prevented the jury from being fair; and that evidence against him was “misrepresented.”

Bogacz had testified for the prosecution that while both he and Bateman were being held awaiting trial, Bateman said he killed Waryasz accidentally at the Deerfield Sunoco on Routes 5 and 10 when she would not go along with a fake robbery.

At the May hearing for a potential new trial, the focus was on a signed 2017 affidavit from ex-convict Victor Marquez, in which Marquez claims that prosecutors compelled jailhouse informant Bogacz to take the stand and lie about Bateman.

“(Bogacz) was telling me he was going to get a deal because he was looking at a lot of time for doing drugs,” Marquez said in court.

Bateman’s lawyer, David Nathanson, used Marquez’s statements to argue the prosecution had improperly created a “market” for information against Bateman, and that Bateman thus deserved a new trial.

In his decision to deny Bateman a new trial, written Aug. 30, Agostini found there was insufficient evidence that Bateman did not receive a fair trial in 2007, despite Bateman’s claims.

Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.