A state judge will consider new trials for two men convicted of killing a Louisiana high school student.
The Advocate reports Judge Brenda Bedsole Ricks on Monday set a timetable for arguments on the cases of James Skinner and Darrell Hampton.
Skinner and Hampton have long claimed they didn’t kill Eric Walber. The 16-year-old, who delivered pizza, was found robbed, beaten and run over on a Tangipahoa Parish road in 1998.
In March 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Michael Wearry, the accused ringleader in the killing. The court found prosecutors violated Wearry’s rights when they withheld evidence undercutting two witnesses.
Lawyers for Skinner and Hampton argue their clients’ second-degree murder convictions rely on the same witnesses called by the same prosecutors who withheld the same information.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
