LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has denied a request for freedom by a 51-year-old man serving life for having his grandmother killed in 1984, despite the new testimony of two doctors who say she most likely died from a lung disease, not suffocation.

Lancaster County District Judge Steven Burns on Friday denied James Saylor’s motion for post-conviction relief.

Prosecutors say he hired another man, Michael Sapp, to kill 83-year-old Lena Saylor for a $25,000 inheritance. Sapp, who prosecutors say smothered the woman, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 13 to 40 years. He has since been released.

Burns said the doctors’ testimony did not outweigh other evidence in the case — including Saylor’s recorded admission that he had hired someone to kill his grandmother.