An illegal immigrant sentenced to more than a decade in prison for repeatedly returning to the United States following deportation has exhausted his appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused this week to hear a Kansas case that sets the standard in 10th Circuit federal district courts for what jurors must consider in deliberating criminal immigration verdicts.

An appeals court panel decided in June that the judge failed to make clear to jurors in the case of Eusebio Sierra-Ledesma that the government had to prove that he re-entered the United States with the “intent” to do so. But it did not overturn his conviction.

Jurors in re-entry cases must now be told that they must find the defendant knew he was coming illegally into the country in order to convict him.