A Hudson Valley man who murdered his father with a baseball bat appealed his conviction.

On Thursday Nicholas Pascarella Jr. appealed his murder conviction and sentence. In 2016, he was sentenced to 25-years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of murdering his father in 2014.

On December 27, 2014, Pascarella Jr. brutally bludgeoned his 66-year-old father to death with a baseball bat in the driveway of the family's Marlboro home

Pascarella Jr. repeatedly struck his father in the head while he begged for mercy and his mother watched in horror from her bedroom window, officials say.

During his trial, his defense team argued Pascarella Jr. was "under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance."

On Thursday, the Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously affirmed the conviction.

According to the Ulster County District Attorney's Office, Pascarella Jr's. primary contention on appeal was that the jury’s rejection of his extreme emotional disturbance defense was against the weight of the evidence. However, the Appellate Division, Third Department noted it was solely within the jury’s province to determine whether such defense was applicable and well within the jury’s province to credit the testimony of the witnesses, including the psychiatric experts who testified on behalf of the People and the defense.

The Appellate Division also rejected defendant’s claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because the defense expert was subject to impeachment after it was discovered that the expert failed to turn over notes of his second and third interview with the defendant. Finally, the court rejected Pascarella’s argument that his sentence was unduly harsh and excessive.

More From Hudson Valley Post