It's been three years since Lee Lucas filed an application for post-conviction relief, which he drafted himself from prison.

Now it appears his plea could be heard by a judge.

Lucas has been serving a life sentence for nearly 30 years for the murder of Eric Howard.

He was convicted of murder at trial (11-1). Since then, he's exhausted his appeals.

But he and his new attorney, Meghan Matt, claim what happened with his grand jury indictment before trial is grounds for immediate release.

"I didn't kill Eric Howard, and I think the authorities know I didn't kill Eric Howard," Lucas said. 

There are a lot of things Lucas and his defense said went wrong during his trial, but the crux of their argument is that they claim to have proof that the signature of the grand jury foreperson who signed his murder indictment was forged by ADA Aaron Brooks. Therefore, there never should have been a trial to begin with.

They also allege that Lucas was only indicted for felony in possession of a firearm, according to a handwritten document, but that Brooks and others worked to change it to add second-degree murder. 

"We understand the full gravity of the allegations here," Matt said. "Three handwriting experts, well-renowned, that have scientifically demonstrated, using his known writings to compare it to, and they're saying this is absolutely the same person."

Lucas did most of this work alone in his jail cell with help from family on the outside.

"I just know that they are gonna try and come and say oh well, they're gonna come with an explanation. But you can't explain the different names that were on the indictment," he said.

District Attorney Hillar Moore says there's no doubt in his mind that Lucas is guilty and that his claims are unfounded. He says Lucas and his team are not looking at the right evidence and are interpreting a lot of it incorrectly.

It will be up to Commissioner Kina Kimble to sort out.

She has set a status conference for next Wednesday, where she will hear from both sides about this matter and eventually decide whether there should be a hearing. She will then make her recommendation to Judge Carson Mercantel.