MILWAUKEE, June 17 (UPI) -- A convicted Wisconsin murderer can't change his name from Jermaine Smith to Marcolo Von Capoeira, a state appellate court has ruled.
Wisconsin's First District Court of Appeals decided Tuesday that Smith, 27, won't be able to go by his "common law spiritual name" while incarcerated at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Judge Joan Kessler, writing the opinion for the court, pointed out that Smith was unable to support his claim that he had ever used his "spiritual name," even during his murder trial, in which he was found guilty of the 2002 execution-style slaying of 69-year-old Dorothy Roberts.
Green Bay warden William Pollard told the court that granting the name change would "seriously impede our ability to identify and control inmates," forcing prison officials to change at least 19 records, the newspaper reported.
