COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A judge is allowing an appeal to move forward in the case of an inmate seeking to prove his innocence in the 1986 slaying of a western Iowa girl. District Judge Jeffrey Larson signed an order Monday denying the state’s request to dismiss the postconviction relief action filed by inmate Daniel Harris.

The ruling means Harris’ lawyers can seek discovery and the case will proceed toward a hearing in which they’ll ask for a new trial. Harris was convicted in the 1986 stabbing and beating death of 16-year-old Kristina Nelson in Council Bluffs. His attorneys are seeking new proceedings and forensic testing that they believe will prove he was framed. A new witness has come forward with an affidavit that implicates two other suspects in the slaying.

A state lawyer had urged Larson to summarily dismiss the matter without further proceedings.