OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that six people wrongly convicted in a 1985 slaying of a woman in southeast Nebraska should have a chance to argue that the officials who prosecuted them acted improperly.

Monday’s ruling from the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived the group’s complaint against Gage County and the officials who built the case against the six in the 1985 killing of Helen Wilson in Beatrice.

The initial trial in the lawsuit ended in mistrial in January.

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

The individuals have argued that Gage County investigators recklessly strove to close the case despite contradictory evidence, rather than seek justice.