The state of North Carolina has asked a state appeals court to undo the acquittal of two men who were found to have been wrongly convicted of murder and robbery in the death of the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul in 2002, arguing the men should instead be given a retrial.

The state argued in a brief filed Tuesday that if the appeals court upholds the acquittals of defendants Rayshawn Banner and Nathaniel Cauthen, state law requires a new trial rather than their unconditional release from prison.

"Abundant caselaw in North Carolina makes clear a new trial — not dismissal of all charges with prejudice — is the correct remedy when a defendant presents a meritorious claim of newly discovered evidence, recantation evidence, or ineffective assistance of counsel," the state's brief says. "The North Carolina Supreme Court has repeatedly held the proper remedy for a substantiated recantation is a new trial."

The Court of Appeals initially issued a temporary stay of the trial court's acquittals, though in September the appeals court lifted the stay and denied a request to halt the trial court's order, according to the brief.

The state took its case to the North Carolina Supreme Court, filing a petition earlier this month for a discretionary review arguing the high court should definitively resolve the question because the defendants will be released without any probationary conditions if the lower court's ruling is affirmed. The state justices have not yet responded to the prosecutors' requests, and the case is ongoing, according to state court records.

The 85-page brief filed with the intermediate appellate court largely expounds upon the state's previous arguments that the trial court should not have considered a lack of DNA evidence or a key witness's recanting her testimony as new evidence that warranted acquittal.

Banner and Cauthen were tried together in 2004 when they were teenagers, and prosecutors claimed that they were among a group of teens who robbed and later killed 61-year-old Nathaniel Jones at his home in Winston-Salem. The group of teenagers believed that Jones, the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul, carried a large amount of cash related to his business as a gas station owner, according to the brief.

A trial court sentenced Banner and Cauthen to life without the possibility of parole, while two other defendants received 13- to 16.5-year prison sentences. The four maintained their innocence, and beginning in 2015, the defendants began seeking a review of their sentences by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

The commission in 2020 ruled that the defendants' claims warranted further study, and a hearing was held before a three-judge panel in April 2022. The panel found that the defendants had not met the "clear and convincing evidence" standard to have their convictions acquitted.

The four defendants then filed motions in Forsyth County court in 2023 claiming that developments in the understanding of child psychology, as well as new DNA evidence and the recantation all warranted consideration by the court. A judge agreed and in August of last year vacated the sentences of the four defendants and ordered Banner and Cauthen, who were the only two still incarcerated, to be released from prison.

Prosecutors fiercely objected to their release, claiming that the arguments made by the defendants do not actually constitute new evidence under North Carolina's state laws, and that Banner and Cauthen should remain in prison.

An attorney representing Banner and Cauthen said in an email to Law360 they are planning on a response that will "say it all with facts and law."

Banner and Cauthen are represented by Christine C. Mumma of the Actual Innocence Project.

The government is represented by Nicholaos G. Vlahos, Sherri Horner Lawrence and Heidi Williams of the North Carolina Department of Justice.

The case is State v. Banner et al., case number 25-1182 before the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

--Editing by Amy French.