ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois judge won’t dismiss murder charges against a man who says police intentionally gave prosecutors the wrong gun to send him to prison for more than two decades.
The Rockford Register Star reports Patrick Pursley is scheduled for another trial Jan. 10.
Pursley won a new trial last year after ballistic testing proved the gun used to convict him wasn’t the same weapon used in Andy Ascher’s 1993 killing.
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Pursley’s attorneys argued the charges should be dismissed after new information surfaced in November. A prosecutor revealed Ascher’s mother told his predecessor last year that a detective said police never found the murder weapon.
Judge Joe McGraw said prosecutors “willfully failed” to promptly provide the information to defense attorneys. He found no evidence police and prosecutors acted in bad faith.
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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com
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