Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of an Alabama death row inmate he says could be "very likely actually innocent."
Meese filed a brief on behalf of inmate Bill Kuenzel with the U.S. Supreme Court which will decide whether to hear Kuenzel's case.
Kuenzel was convicted of killing store clerk Linda Jean Offord in 1987.
Kuenzel's lawyers argue prosecutors withheld evidence that would have cast doubt on witness and plea deal testimony. However, his defense missed a deadline to raise new evidence claims.
Meese's lawyers wrote that state rules ordinarily deserve deference, but there were "basic notions of fairness" at issue.
Alabama has argued other evidence backs up the verdict.
Meese was attorney general under President Ronald Reagan.