Rodney Lincoln was just denied for a new hearing by the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
On Tuesday, the court issued an opinion that his petition for habeas corpus could not be approved.
"It's hard to wrap your brain around, but as it turns out innocence is not a good enough reason to release a prisoner in Missouri," said Sean O'Brien, one of Lincoln's attorneys.
Click here to read the full opinion.
Lincoln was convicted of murdering Joanne Tate and sexually assaulting her two young daughters in 1982. He has maintained his innocence ever since.
The latest opinion cites the case of Joseph Amrine. He's a Kansas City man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering an inmate while he was incarcerated.
O'Brien added, "This court today in Rodney's case is distinguishing that case because they're saying it's different if you're serving life imprisonment instead of on death row."
We caught up with Amrine to get his thoughts on how his case precedent was applied.
"Oh I think that's totally absurd because whether you're on death row or whatever, if your constitutional rights have been violated, it should apply to you," Amrine said. "There's no difference between me getting executed and a guy spending the rest of his life in prison and for something he didn't do."
Lincoln is now 72 years old. He shared, "I've lasted this long because I know I'm innocent. I want everybody in the world to know I'm innocent."
Lincoln isn't giving up hope although, "The confidence in the system has slipped some, but not the expectation that I will walk through that front door."
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
