Florida Appeals Court Reconsiders Ex-FBI Agent's Murder Case

The attorney for a former FBI agent convicted in a decades-old South Florida slaying linked to Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger says the agent should be freed from prison because he was improperly found guilty and wrongly sentenced.

Attorney Manuel Alvarez made the argument for John Connolly on Thursday in Miami before the 3rd District Court of Appeal. A three-judge panel previously tossed Connolly's second-degree murder conviction and 40-year sentence, but prosecutors persuaded the full court to reconsider.

Prosecutors say Connolly's conviction was proper because he was armed when he tipped Bulger that World Jai-Alai President John Callahan was to become an FBI informant. A hit man killed Callahan in 1982.

Alvarez says Connolly must be acquitted because he was nowhere near the crime scene.

No immediate decision was announced.