OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has ordered an evidentiary hearing held for a man serving 50 years to life in prison for killing his friend in 2009 and who argues that he should be released from prison because his trial lawyer was ineffective.

Dallas Huston was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 22-year-old Ryan Johnson. An autopsy showed Johnson died of asphyxiation.

Huston was initially charged with assisting a suicide, but police later determined Johnson had tried to free himself from plastic wrapped around his head, and that Huston then suffocated Johnson with a pillow.

On Friday, the state’s high court ruled the trial judge should not have dismissed Huston’s request for post-conviction relief — typically sought after all appeals have been exhausted — without holding a hearing.