JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A man sentenced to death for killing two Mississippi State University students decades ago is asking for a retrial.

On Thursday, Willie Jerome Manning filed for a rehearing with the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The 56-year-old’s lawyers are requesting oral arguments.

“Manning provided the court with debunked forensic science and newly discovered evidence, with the recantation of several key witnesses … In denying Manning’s petition, the majority of the court misunderstood the facts and the law,” his lawyers wrote.

Manning is represented by David Voisin, of Hammon, Louisiana, Robert S. Mink, of Jackson, and Krissy Nobile, with the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel.

The 20 page submission is coming more than a month after the high court denied Manning’s earlier motion for an evidentiary hearing in circuit court.

In a split 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that the evidence would not have changed the outcome of the case.

Manning was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murders of Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler, two MSU students.

The defendant has long maintained his innocence and has sought post-conviction relief several times. His case even made it to the US Supreme Court.

Manning’s attorneys say that since his conviction, several witnesses have recanted their testimony, including Earl Jordan, who said in an affidavit that “the sheriff … would ‘help him’ if he gave a statement on Manning’.

Another witness, Paula Hathorn, said Manning did not come home the morning after the shooting and that a leather jacket from one of the victims was stolen.

Manning’s lawyers say she was paid $17,000 for her statements and had “dozens of bad check charges dropped as a result” of her testimony.

Another witness, Frank Parker, testified at trial that he overheard Manning discussing getting rid of the murder weapon. However, lawyers say the testimony is also not credible, based on comments from Henry Richardson, a cellmate of Manning’s, who denied the defendant ever said such a thing.

“The prosecution was based on false, highly motivated witnesses and discredited forensic evidence,” the motion states. “The court should not be blind to the complete erosion of the credibility of the state’s case at trial — or to the injustice that occurred.”

Manning’s lawyers also say new ballistics evidence should be considered. At trial, tests showed that bullets found in a tree at Manning’s home matched bullets found at the crime scene. However, Manning claims that new studies disprove the validity of the tests used.

That evidence aside, prosecutors also point to what they say is a pattern of “wrongful convictions stemming from a single judicial district in Mississippi.”

Those cases include Kennedy Brewer, Levon Brooks, Tyler Edmonds, Eddie Lee Howard and Sabrina Butler Smith — all of whom were exonerated and all tried by “the same prosecutor,” court records show.

“These numerous wrongful convictions stemming from the same judicial district and prosecutor fit a pattern; faulty and false forensics and/or official misconduct,” the motion said. “Manning’s current case follows that template. Rehearing is warranted here.”

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