The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a sex offender’s appeal challenging the reliability of the polygraph used to help convict him in 1996 as well as his original understanding of a plea bargain.

Roland Dee Tirey, 64, originally was given a 50-year-sentence for sexual assault in Flathead District Court in 1997 after he sexually assaulted a young woman numerous times in 1996. Half of his sentence was suspended.

He was paroled in 2004, only to return to prison in 2005 after parole violations.

Tirey discharged the unsuspended part of his sentence in 2008 and was released to begin the suspended part of his sentence, but by 2009 he was back in prison for not following terms of probation.

Tirey’s response was to sue his probation officers in federal court. That lawsuit was unsuccessful.

He also tried to get the Montana Supreme Court to overturn the new 25-year prison sentence, with seven years suspended, that was handed down after the revocation, but the high court found the sentence was actually shorter than Tirey’s original sentence and was legal and appropriate.

 He appealed again in 2015, and claimed that the science behind the polygraph used to convict him was faulty. He also claimed he did not understand the plea bargain as it had been promised to him.

The high court ruled that Tirey’s appeal was too long and exceeded the page limit permitted by the court. It also said his appeal was not filed within the time frame required by state law.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].