Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2010 --- 8:50 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- An appeals court has upheld the reckless homicide conviction of a man accused of fatally shooting a Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation agent during a robbery.

Dionny Reynolds argued he was coerced by Milwaukee police into confessing he shot John "Jay" Balchunas at a Milwaukee gas station where the agent stopped during a drug investigation in 2004.

The District 1 Court of Appeals rejected his argument, saying his confession was voluntary and not the result of coercion by detectives.

A jury convicted Reynolds of first-degree reckless homicide while armed as a party to a crime, attempted armed robbery and felony gun possession. Prosecutors say Reynolds' accomplice, Anthony Bolden, patted Balchunas down before Reynolds shot him in the stomach. He died days later.

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