Michael Sockwell. Alabama Department of Corrections via AP

The U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates to receive a new trial. On Monday, the court declined to review the state's appeal of a lower court ruling over the summer, which found that prosecutors in the original case violated the inmate's rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors.

The decision to reject the summer ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could allow Michael Sockwell, 63, to receive a new trial. He has been on Alabama's death row since 1990.

"We appreciate the Supreme Court's decision. Michael has been denied his right to a fair trial for more than 35 years. We'll continue to fight for his freedom," Michael Rayfield, one of Sockwell's lawyers, said in a statement.

Sockwell was convicted in 1990 of killing Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Isaiah Harris. Harris was shot in the face in 1988 on his way to work in what prosecutors described as a murder-for-hire arranged by Harris' wife.

The appellate court in June issued a 2-1 opinion finding Alabama prosecutors violated Sockwell's 14th Amendment rights by intentionally rejecting potential Black jurors believed to be more sympathetic to him.

Judge Charles Wilson, who wrote the opinion, said Alabama prosecutors "repeatedly and purposefully" rejected qualified Black jurors in Sockwell's case, CBS affiliate WHNT reported. Wilson cited records of Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Ellen Brooks striking a potential juror who was a Black man, according to the news station.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office sought a review of that decision but the petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.

A federal judge in November said prosecutors must take steps by March 18 to pursue a new trial or Sockwell should be released from prison. A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said Monday that the office intends to retry the case but declined additional comment.

The jury that convicted Sockwell voted 7-5 to recommend that he receive life imprisonment, but a judge overrode that recommendation and handed down a death sentence. Alabama no longer allows judges to override a jury's sentence decision in capital cases.

Harris' wife was convicted of capital murder; she was initially sentenced to death but that was later reduced to life in prison.

Source