A lingering cloud over State Department special agent Christopher Deedy’s murder trial was lifted Monday when a federal appeals court denied his bid to transfer the case to federal court.

Deedy, 29, appealed a ruling by a federal judge who denied him permission to file for the transfer after the deadline for such motions.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision U.S. District Judge Leslie Koba­ya­shi made last year.

The Appeals Court rejected Deedy’s contention that the case should be transferred to the federal court, which could allow a federal district outside of Hawaii to handle the trial, because of pretrial publicity.

The ruling was issued on the first day of Deedy’s trial in state courts on a charge of murdering Kollin Elderts of Kailua in the early morning of Nov. 5, 2011.