Prosecutors: No reason to reopen fatal ambush of 2 hunters

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - Prosecutors are urging a judge not to reopen the 1990 slayings of two hunters in Kalamazoo County.

Jeff Titus says evidence was withheld from his attorney and key witnesses didn't testify at the 2002 trial. But prosecutors in a recent court filing are standing by the convictions. They say an alternative theory would "have made no difference" in the verdict.

Titus is represented by the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan's law school. He's serving a life sentence for the deaths of Doug Estes and Jim Bennett, who were shot while hunting near Titus' property.

Titus wasn't told that a sheriff's officer believed there were two shooters. But prosecutors say that opinion isn't any more credible than the opinion of a garbage man who might look at the evidence.