BUFFALO, N.Y. — In April 1997, two Buffalo police officers thought a suspect was stripping a stolen car on Northampton Street.
As they approached the suspect, the suspect began firing.
Officer Charles "Skip" McDougald was killed and officer Michael Martinez was injured but survived.
A year later, 19-year-old Jonathan Parker was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but now there's a new development in the case.
On June 7, a judge will decide whether or not to grant Parker a hearing.
It's happening because his attorney submitted a 440 motion for two reasons.
The first reason, two of the witnesses who testified in Parker's trial back in 1998 are now recanting their original statements.
Both of them had said they saw Parker near Northampton Street but are now saying they never actually saw him.
Also in 1998, Parker's previous defense attorney James Harrington said in his closing argument during the trial that his client had recklessly caused the murder of McDougald.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a defense attorney cannot say anything to admit his or her client's guilt when they plead innocence.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says that decision isn't retroactive while saying he has his own suspicions about witnesses coming forward now.
"We are asking the judge to dismiss the 440 complaints right away. Because quite frankly, 25 years later, two people changing their story has no significance at all upon his guilt or innocence. And his argument about what his lawyer did is quite frankly irrelevant," Flynn said. "There was ample evidence to convict Jonathan Parker 25 years ago, nothing has changed to this day."
Parker's new defense attorney Robert Goldstein says his client should get his conviction overturned, have a new, fair trial, or be acquitted.
"A judge has already indicated that we are entitled to an oral argument so there goes irrelevant. And we are going to be arguing that there should be a full hearing and the full facts behind Jonathan's conviction are exposed for what they are which were made up testimony based upon threats by an officer who has already been convicted of doing the exact same thing in another case. We want the opportunity to be heard," Goldstein said.
"In those 25 years (that my cousin has been in jail), unfortunately, we have lost many family members," said Tiffany Thornton, Parker's cousin. "But unfortunately, he was unable to attend her funeral services. We mourn for him, we still mourn for him, we still grieve and we still pray that we get our cousin home."
RELATED: