A New York judge has rejected the claim of a Brooklyn man who said his bid to have his murder conviction overturned was mishandled by a judge later found to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Judge Raymond Rodriguez of State Supreme Court said he found no evidence that his former colleague’s illness had affected her decision to deny the man’s motion to have his 1999 murder conviction vacated.

Judge ShawnDya Simpson went on medical leave in September 2019, days after her decision in the murder case. In July 2020, after she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, she retired from the bench as part of an agreement struck with the Commission on Judicial Conduct. The decision ended a once-bright legal career for Simpson, who was just 54 and whose rise from the housing projects of Brooklyn had been hailed as an inspiring tale for young women of color.

Nelson Cruz, who had been convicted at age 17 of shooting a rival dead in the streets of Brooklyn, had spent two decades insisting on his innocence and seeking a hearing to have his conviction revisited.

Simpson granted Cruz that chance in 2018. Cruz and his lawyers later presented alibi witnesses and offered evidence that Cruz’s case had been tainted by the work of unscrupulous detectives. Simpson previously had vacated two murder convictions in cases involving the detectives.

In August 2019, Simpson called Cruz’s lawyers and prosecutors to court and from the bench rejected Cruz’s bid. Cruz and his lawyers had been so confident of prevailing that they had brought new clothes for Cruz to wear as he walked free.

When Simpson’s illness was made public a year later, Cruz’s lawyers argued her handling of the case suggested she’d been impaired at the time of the August 2019 decision. They cited delays and alleged inconsistencies in her handling of the case and included the claim of the judge’s husband that she had been showing signs of impairment as early as 2018. They asked for a hearing to be held to assess the judge’s condition at the time of the 2019 ruling.

Prosecutors argued throughout that Cruz had been properly convicted, that his evidence of innocence was faulty and that Simpson’s denial of his bid for freedom had been coherent and persuasive. They argued there was no need for a hearing to explore the timeline and possible impact of her illness.

This week, Rodriguez, assigned the case by the Office of Court Administration, agreed. He wrote that Simpson’s analysis of the faults with Cruz’s arguments of innocence were reasonable and based on the evidence. He said that while Alzheimer’s is a terrible and progressive disease, Cruz had not presented detailed medical evidence that Simpson was compromised in August 2019. He held that Simson’s husband’s assessment of his ailing wife was not specific enough to be compelling.

Oren Yaniv, a spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, said in a brief statement, “We agree with the judge’s decision.”

An earlier review ordered by court officials of scores of rulings made by Simpson over her final months as a judge concluded there was no evidence that she had clearly erred as a consequence of her illness.