A former Latrobe man whose double murder convictions were reversed by one court and reinstated by another has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to intervene.

In a 32-page petition with more than 500 pages of exhibits, David Munchinski's lawyer claims a three-judge panel of the state Superior Court erred last month in reinstating Mr. Munchinski's convictions, saying the panel ignored or misrepresented facts and was mistaken about a filing deadline.

"The completely improper and inappropriate review conducted, which involved unprecedented and unabashed advocacy for the government's positions, must be addressed and reviewed by [the Supreme Court] because it is such anathema to accepted appellate review practice," wrote Noah Geary of Washington, Pa., Mr. Munchinski's lawyer.

Mr. Geary claimed the Superior Court panel disregarded 157 findings of fact in a 114-page opinion by Northumberland County Common Pleas Judge Barry Feudale, a visiting judge who reversed Mr. Munchinski's Fayette County murder convictions due to prosecutorial misconduct.

In October 2004, Judge Feudale set aside 1986 convictions against Mr. Munchinski and accused three Fayette County prosecutors -- two of whom are now judges -- of "seeking and maintaining convictions to the detriment of the search for the truth."

Mr. Munchinski was convicted of killing James Peter Alford, 24, and Raymond Gierke, 28, in the Laurel Highlands area known as Bear Rocks in 1977. He has been imprisoned 20 years.

In its ruling last month, the Superior Court said Mr. Munchinski should not have been granted an appeal because he filed a petition late, and it balked at Judge Feudale's claim that misconduct permeated the case.

The Superior Court discounted Judge Feudale's findings that prosecutors had altered reports to conceal evidence and hidden taped statements by star witness Richard Bowen, who claimed to be the getaway driver in the murders before repeatedly changing and recanting his story. Mr. Bowen eventually hanged himself in an Oklahoma jail.

Of a dozen investigative reports that did not surface until years after Mr. Munchinski's trial, one stated that Mr. Bowen may have been in Oklahoma on the day of the killing. Judge Feudale called the withholding of the report misconduct by the prosecution, but the Superior Court panel said it was "not exculpatory for Munchinski and does not establish Bowen's whereabouts."

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Mr. Geary said Mr. Munchinski's petition for appeal was filed on time and that Superior Court should have accepted the lower court's rulings and interpretations on the facts of the case.

The Munchinski case was investigated by the Innocence Institute of Point Park University, which trains students in investigative reporting and produces stories for the Post-Gazette.