BY ROBERT BOCZKIEWICZ
DENVER — A man convicted of killing an off-duty Oklahoma City police officer will be allowed to bring a new challenge to the conviction because a key prosecution witness has recanted his testimony.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday granted Alvin Parker's request to once again challenge his conviction for the 1985 killing of officer Gary Lee Ward.
Ward was shot with his own revolver during a struggle with a man suspected of stealing a television set at a Holiday Inn on NW 39 Expressway, where the officer was working security.
Judges of the Denver-based appeals court issued an order stating that Parker is entitled to have a U.S. District Court judge in Oklahoma City consider whether the recanted testimony should alter the conviction.
Glenn Briggs earlier this year declared, “under penalty of perjury,” that he lied about Parker having committed the murder.
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