The North Carolina judge who presided over the 1996 trial for Michael Jordan’s father James’ murder is now asking for the man convicted for the killing to be released, according to several reports.
ABC News first reported that retired judge Gregory Weeks petitioned the North Carolina parole commission on Tuesday, requesting that Daniel Green be released because of the omission of what the judge says was key evidence during his trial.
Green was 18 years old at the time of the 1993 murder of James Jordan and was later sentenced to life in prison. James was the father of NBA legend Michael Jordan.
A spokesperson with the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction office confirmed with PEOPLE that Weeks visited the department earlier this week but would not comment on the nature of the visit.
ABC and NBC News reported that Weeks made the request for Green's release after learning that a forensic blood analyst who testified during the 1996 trial had not disclosed that a blood-like substance found inside of James Jordan’s car might not have been blood .
The NBA great’s father was asleep in the passenger seat of his car when Green walked up to the vehicle and shot him dead during a robbery gone wrong, prosecutors argued during the trial.
James Jordan’s body was discovered in a South Carolina swamp 11 days after the shooting, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Green has long claimed that he did not pull the trigger and instead was only a co-conspirator in covering up James Jordan’s murder after his friend Larry Demery had asked for his help moving the body. Demery, who was also convicted in James Jordan's killing, testified during the 1996 trial that Green was the one who killed the father of the six-time NBA champion.
In a phone call from prison, Green told ABC that he is “overwhelmingly grateful” for Weeks’ petition asking for his release, calling the retired judge’s request a “significant” factor and “speaks volumes” for his innocence.
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ABC reported that Weeks told the parole commission that he “had never been haunted in such a manner as he was haunted by this case.”
Weeks retired from the bench in 2012, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
PEOPLE has reached out to Jordan’s representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Jordan’s father’s death deeply impacted the NBA superstar, who briefly left the league to pursue a career in baseball — a decision he said was because of his late father’s love for baseball and ambition to see his son play the sport.
"I think about him every day,” Jordan said of his father in 1996, according to the Tribune. “I'm pretty sure I always will. Every day of my life."
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