The Cortez man convicted in the shooting death of a local attorney eight years ago is petitioning for another hearing.
Aric Miera, 38, was scheduled to appear in District Court Friday morning, but his hearing was postponed until May 3 at the request of District Attorney Will Furse and Katharine Whitney, Miera's defense counsel.
In 2006, a local jury found Miera guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He later had appeals rejected by the Colorado Court of Appeals and Supreme Court in 2010.
Case closed, surely. Or maybe not.
According to Rule 35C of the Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure, a convicted defendant can ask the sentencing judge to reconsider his or her case and reduce the sentence in light of new evidence uncovered after the original verdict.
On March 4, 2005, Miera entered Richard S. Luhman's law office at 30 W. First St., in Cortez, brushed past his secretary, and opened fire four times. Miera then fled and led police on a two-hour manhunt before being arrested by Montezuma County sheriff's deputies on County Road L. Luhman had represented Miera's ex-wife, Cordelia Miera, when the couple filed for divorce.