Prosecutors Win Key Ruling In 1983 Cold Case Conviction
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) - Prosecutors have won a key ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court as they try to save a murder conviction in a case that took about 30 years to bring to trial.
The Supreme Court says the appeals court used the wrong legal standard last year when it threw out the first-degree murder conviction of William Lyles Jr. He was accused of stabbing Andrew Weathers in Highland Park back in 1983.
The Supreme Court last week told the appeals court to take another look.
Lyles, now 63, wasn't charged until 2012. Files and evidence were lost, but the case eventually was reopened.
The conviction was set aside because a judge didn't give a jury instruction about considering evidence of Lyles' good character in the years before he was charged.
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