LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Within weeks of an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel granting a new trial in the lawsuit of six people wrongly accused of a 1985 Beatrice rape and murder, the court has agreed to reconsider.

On Thursday, the 8th Circuit granted a motion by Gage County and various county law enforcement officials to rehear the appeal. The appeals court vacated the three-judge panel’s August opinion granting the new trial.

The wrongly convicted individuals — known as the Beatrice Six — served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing cleared them in 2008.

They have argued that investigators recklessly strove to close the case, rather than seek justice. The six have also argued Gage County failed to properly train investigators.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s Catholic Diocese will participate in the next sex abuse audit conducted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, ending its reign as the only diocese in the nation not to take part over the past 13 years.

Bishop James Conley announced his decision to participate in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People annual audit of the 195 U.S. dioceses and eparchies in a recent column for the Lincoln diocese newspaper.

The annual audit began in 2002 in response to increasing allegations of longtime sexual abuse of children by clergy and possible cover-ups of abuse. The Lincoln Diocese took part in the audit that first year, but has declined to participate ever since.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 27-year-old Omaha man has died in a single car crash in east Omaha.

Police say the crash happened around 5:20 a.m. Saturday at the Mormon Bridge Road and Young Street, killing Todd Maslowsky. Investigators say Maslowsky’s car was traveling west on Young Street, when he ran through a T-intersection, hitting an embankment.

Maslowsky, the only occupant of the car, was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Sunday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 23-year-old Illinois man has been sentenced to 10-to-15 years in prison for his role in a botched home-invasion robbery that left a Nebraska man dead.

Derick Lewis, of Alton, Illinois, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty earlier this summer to conspiracy to rob 21-year-old Maurice Williams. Williams died after being shot in the chest during the Aug. 30, 2014 attempted robbery at his Lincoln home.

Prosecutors say the trigger man was 20-year-old Joshua Carr, who was sentenced earlier in the week to up to 50 years for manslaughter, attempted robbery and a weapons count.

Another man, 23-year-old Jason Holmes, was convicted earlier this year of being an accessory to robbery and sentenced to five years.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police have arrested a man on suspicion of breaking into a woman’s home and raping her while her son slept in the next room.

29-year-old Patrick Thornton was charged Thursday with first-degree sexual assault.

The victim reported to police that the rape occurred Dec. 9, 2010, when she said two men forced their way inside her home and sexually assaulted her.

Police say DNA evidence sent to the Nebraska State Patrol Laboratory matched a sample Thornton gave police in January 2014 when he was a suspect in an unrelated sexual assault.

The woman told police she did not know Thornton prior to the attack.

Thornton remained jailed Saturday and could not be reached for comment.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 73-year-old Lincoln man has died after a collision between his pickup and a sport utility vehicle.

Police say the accident occurred around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday on the south side of Lincoln when the westbound pickup ran through a stop sign and collided with the northbound SUV.

Police say the pickup driver was taken to a Lincoln hospital, where he died Thursday morning. He was identified as Ronald Walker.