The Montana Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and parole restrictions given to a Helena man found guilty of stabbing a woman nearly 70 times, killing her.

Jared Rosling was sentenced to life in prison in the Feb. 1, 2004, death of Jessica Dooley, 21. Her father found her body in the bathroom of her Helena home, where a fire was burning.

An autopsy found she had been choked but that the cause of death was multiple cutting and stab wounds. The medical examiner observed 67 stab wounds and 28 cuts on her body, court documents said.

Rosling was arrested a short time later and charged with murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, evidence tampering and drug possession. A jury convicted him after a nine-day trial.

According to court records, Rosling and Dooley were acquaintances and had attended the same party in East Helena the night before Dooley’s death. Prosecutors said Rosling gave Dooley a ride after the party and then attacked her in a drug-induced rage.

Rosling’s attorney, Randi Hood, asked District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock to leave open the possibility of parole. But Sherlock declined, saying Rosling posed a serious risk to society.

Rosling argued on appeal that the parole restriction was illegal and beyond the lower court’s authority. He also said Sherlock incorrectly denied his motion to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence; in particular, he claimed there wasn’t enough evidence to support the kidnapping charge.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court disagreed.

Regarding the kidnapping charge, it said the state had to produce sufficient evidence upon which “a rational trier of fact” could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Rosling restrained Dooley by either holding her in a “place of isolation” or by “using or threatening to use physical force, with the purpose of inflicting bodily injury on or terrorizing her.”

“We conclude that the state did so,” said the majority opinion, written by Justice James Nelson.

The high court also rejected Rosling’s claim regarding his parole restriction, saying life in prison with no possibility of parole was within the range of punishments authorized by a jury’s guilty verdict on a murder charge.

The Supreme Court declined to address a third claim regarding Rosling’s sentence, saying it wasn’t properly brought up on appeal.

Three justices — John Warner, Patricia Cotter and Brian Morris — disagreed with the majority on the kidnapping issue, saying they would had vacated Rosling’s conviction for that offense.

“Under the court’s holding today, almost every murder could justify a kidnapping charge,” Warner wrote.