An investigation into the murder of an Irish priest in Texas more than 40 years ago has been reopened.
Fr Patrick Ryan from Doon, Co Limerick, was found dead in a hotel room in Odessa in December 1981.
The police investigation led to the arrest and conviction of James Harry Reyos.
A statement from the Odessa Police Department in recent days said a review of the case was carried out following public questioning of the guilt of Reyos in 2021 and a cold case investigation has now been opened.
It said that during this review "investigators developed serious questions as to Mr Reyos' guilt".
"Mr Reyos' conviction was based almost solely on a confession that he provided in New Mexico while he was intoxicated. He later recanted the confession. Furthermore, the investigation did not lead to any other corroborative evidence that substantiated the confession", the statement said.
Odessa Police said that the new review "revealed evidence that tends to show that Reyos could not have been present at the crime scene" and that "fingerprint cards within the original case file revealed latent fingerprints at the crime scene that did not belong to Mr Reyos".
Because of this, and Reyos' known whereabouts at the time, investigators now believe that the murder was committed by another person or persons.
The Odessa Police Department presented its review findings to the Ector County District Attorney's Office.
"The ECDA has completed a thorough investigation as well and have come to much the same results as the Odessa Police Department. Both agencies agree that there is compelling doubt to James Harry Reyos' guilt in this case", the statement said.
Odessa Police has confirmed that the murder of Fr Patrick Ryan has now been reopened as a cold case investigation and has been assigned to the cold case detective.
The Innocence Project Texas (IPTX) said in a post on Facebook this week that it has filed a lawsuit to overturn Reyos' conviction, who, it said, "was sentenced to 38 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit".
The Innocence Project of Texas filed the lawsuit to formally overturn Mr Reyos' conviction of for the murder of Fr Ryan.
In a statement, the organisation said that their client, James Reyos was the last known person to see Fr Ryan alive.
They said that in addition to a confession made while he was intoxicated, the prosecution in the case "focused extensively on Mr Reyos' Apache Native American race and the fact that he was gay".
"Even though no one disputed that it was physically impossible for Mr Reyos to have committed the crime, he was found guilty", the statement said.
Innocence Project of Texas said it filed the lawsuit asserting Mr Reyos' innocence "as a result of recently discovered" fingerprint evidence.
The group has worked to exonerate or free 27 people since 2006.
Allison Clayton, attorney for James Reyos, said that the organisation was "honoured" to challenge his conviction, and "we pray this time justice will finally prevail".
"A lot of things have changed in the past 40 years. For too long, the ignorance, racism and homophobia at the heart of this case have prevailed over the laws of physics and common sense," she said.
It will now be up to the 70th Judicial Court of Ector County in Texas to decide whether or not to hold a hearing on the new evidence.
