A man serving life in prison for a 1998 Louisiana murder was unfairly denied a writ of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, despite the fact that his co-defendant had his conviction vacated when bringing up the same favorable evidence, dissenting justices said.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the high court should have considered James Skinner's petition "rather than leaving that injustice in place."

"Because Skinner was subject to the same constitutional violations that his codefendant [Michael] Wearry was (and more), he is entitled to the same relief that Wearry received. The Louisiana courts denied him that relief," Justice Sotomayor wrote.

Skinner and Wearry were both convicted for the murder of Eric Walber based on similar evidence, centering around accounts by two flawed eyewitnesses, the dissent says.

Wearry was sentenced to death while Skinner, whose initial capital trial ended with a hung jury, was convicted by an 11-1 vote and sentenced to life in prison, Justice Sotomayor noted.

"In 2016, this court vacated Wearry's conviction because the prosecution in his case had '[b]eyond doubt' violated its constitutional obligation to disclose favorable evidence to him," she said. Skinner, on the other hand, remains incarcerated, where he may stay for the rest of his life "even though the prosecution failed to disclose the same favorable evidence to him in connection with his case," Justice Sotomayor said.

Louisiana courts chose to deny Skinner relief unfairly, and so the high court should have stepped up to "uphold its obligations to ensure the supremacy of its own decisions and to treat like defendants alike," the justice wrote.

In an email to Law360 on Monday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill disagreed, saying the court "correctly denied review in this case."

She said Skinner "brutally drove over a teenager, Eric Walber, with Eric's own car, killing him. Skinner deserves the life sentence he received, and I will continue to defend it against baseless attacks."

For his part, Wearry reached a plea deal with the state after the Supreme Court vacated his conviction and is now free from prison, the dissent says. Skinner, who didn't have capital counsel, represented himself in state and federal court and lacked results, the justice wrote.

Justice Sotomayor said the evidence requiring that Skinner get the same treatment by the high court as his co-defendant was overwhelming.

Witness Sam Scott gave many conflicting accounts regarding Walber's murder, changing his story repeatedly when talking to police, the dissent says. Justice Sotomayor noted that "according to Skinner, newly discovered police records also showed that the police fed Scott information to shape his story."

Undisclosed evidence also showed that the other eyewitness, Eric Brown, had sought and received a deal for his testimony, Justice Sotomayor wrote.

Additionally, Skinner uncovered evidence that police had hidden tips they received regarding other people confessing to Walber's murder. A police note from before trial showed an anonymous caller reported that "Raz [Rogers and another] confessed to 'someone' that they murdered Eric Walber," the justice wrote.

"This contradicted the prosecution's statement that there was not 'even one shred of evidence that Raz Rogers was involved,'" Justice Sotomayor said regarding this other potential suspect.

Given the new evidence Skinner unearthed, in addition to the evidence the court used to vacate Wearry's conviction, there was no reason Skinner should be left imprisoned, the justice said.

"Equal justice under law, the phrase engraved on the front of this court's building, requires that two codefendants, convicted of the same crime, who raised essentially the same constitutional claims, receive the same answer from the courts," she said, disagreeing with the court's denial of Skinner's petition and urging the court to "enforce its own precedents."

Representatives for Skinner did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

James Skinner is represented by Jee Yeong Park of Innocence & Justice Louisiana.

Louisiana is represented by Jorge Benjamin Aguinaga of the Louisiana Attorney General's Office and Brett Sommer of Louisiana's 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office.

The case is Skinner v. Louisiana, case number 25-1, in the Supreme Court of the United States.

--Editing by Marygrace Anderson.