Teina Pora will find out tonight whether his bid to the Privy Council in London is successful after spending 22 years in prison for crimes he says he did not commit, reports Radio New Zealand.
Susan Burdett’s body was found bludgeoned to death on 25 March 1992, and the case received widespread media coverage.
Pora was arrested and charged with murder a year later and in court the jury found him guilty of murder, rape and aggravated robbery.
But when police later broke open the Malcolm Rewa case, Pora was given a lifeline.
Rewa, a lone sexual predator, was later sentenced to 22 years in prison for sex attacks on 27 women, including Burdett.
The case went to the Court of Appeal where three judges concluded that the Crown case relied heavily on a confession from an immature Pora. His case was sent back to the High Court for a retrial, which began in March 2000, however the jury returned guilty verdicts.
The big development happened when the Privy Council in London agreed to hear Pora's appeal.
Pora's legal team, headed by Jonathan Krebs, appeared in the London court late last year, in what could be the last case to go to the Privy Council from New Zealand.
He said new evidence showed Pora was born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and had a mental age of 10 when he was interviewed by police. He added that the condition meant Pora had a drive to please people and it could explain why he confessed to doing something he didn't do.
The Crown, represented by the Solicitor General Michael Heron, QC, said a jury would still convict Pora, despite the new evidence.