ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man appealing his conviction in a live-in girlfriend’s murder has enlisted some unusual character witnesses: three former sheriff’s deputies who testified they planned to arrest another suspect until state troopers intervened.

Seventy-two-year-old Donald “Doc” Nash is serving a life sentence after his 2009 conviction in Judy Lynn Spencer’s death. The 1982 killing remained unsolved until new DNA evidence linked Nash to Spencer, a 21-year-old Salem hospital receptionist who was strangled with her shoelace and then shot.

The case against Nash relied primarily on minute traces of his DNA found beneath Spencer’s fingernails. Defense lawyers say that’s typical for couples living together.

A federal judge has ruled that Nash makes a strong claim for innocence but should pursue his appeal in state court.