CHEYENNE (AP) -- The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld a man's felony murder conviction and life sentence for his role in the 2004 stabbing death of an alleged drug dealer.

Brian Rawle was convicted in Lincoln County District Court on a charge of felony murder for his role in the robbing and killing of Manuel Leon-Leyva. Besides the life sentence, Rawle was sentenced to serve a concurrent term of 10 to 15 years for conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.

According to the Supreme Court ruling issued Wednesday, Rawle drove from South Dakota in early February 2004 to seek work in Arizona. He traveled with his girlfriend, Eyvette Talley, her three children and her brother, as well as her brother's wife and their three children, in a 1989 Cadillac.

The ruling states that they stopped in Kemmerer because Rawle had previously lived there and knew Leon-Leyva, who's identified in the court ruling as a drug dealer. Leon-Leyva agreed to meet them at a local grocery store.

According to the court ruling, Leon-Leyva pulled up in his Isuzu Trooper and parked in front of them. Talley and Rawle armed themselves with steak knives.

"Mr. Leon-Leyva was then robbed and stabbed to death in his vehicle," the ruling states.

Rawle drove the Isuzu to a remote area outside Kemmerer, and Talley followed. They set fire to the Isuzu with the body inside.

On appeal, Rawle argued that prosecutors had given him notice before trial that they intended to try to prove that he personally stabbed Leon-Leyva. However, at trial, prosecutors argued that Rawle was guilty under the theory that he aided and abetted others in the crime.

Judge Jere Ryckman presided over Rawle's case at trial. Ryckman rejected Rawle's request to throw out the charges against him on the grounds that the state had not given him prior notice of its theory of the case.

The Supreme Court upheld Ryckman's ruling.

"A killing occurring in a continuous transaction involving a robbery is a classic example of felony murder," the court ruling states.

Later, the ruling states, "Contrary to Mr. Rawle's assertion that he had no idea that he was being prosecuted as an aider and abettor, other information in the record reveals that indeed, defense counsel had received notice that the state viewed the crimes charged as joint endeavors."

The Supreme Court last month upheld Talley's felony murder conviction and life sentence for her involvement in the case. She also was sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.