A former Altoona man who is serving life sentences plus 20 to 40 years for the murders and robbery of two elderly neighbors 23 years ago has filed a federal petition seeking a new trial.

William Darwin Thompson was only 20 years old when he was arrested for the stabbing deaths of Raymond Bracken, 83, and Marjorie Bracken, 81, in their home on the 200 block of Spruce Avenue.

The prosecution maintained the murders occurred on the evening of March 1, 2002, and that Thompson pushed his way into the home and stabbed the couple, then made off with a telephone and a gold ring with a green stone, a keepsake often worn by Mr. Bracken.

The prosecution also claimed that Thompson made a phone call from the Bracken home to his girlfriend that evening.

The case was of intense public interest, not only because of the brutality of the murders but because of the delays in bringing Thompson to trial.

Thompson was finally convicted of the murders on June 26, 2007.

The prosecution sought first degree murder convictions, but the defense argued that there was no evidence discovered that linked Thompson to the crime scene.

Thompson maintained his innocence, but in the opening statement by then-Blair County Assistant District Attorney Russell Montgomery, it was argued that there was a “strong circumstantial case” against Thompson.

The defense, led by attorney Steven P. Passarello, planted a seed of doubt that there may have been another person present in the Bracken home who committed the murders.

The jury, selected from Beaver County, debated the case for several days and finally found Thompson guilty of two counts of second degree murder, which is murder during the commission of another felony.

Trial Judge Hiram A. Carpenter III sentenced Thompson to two life terms without parole plus consecutive sentences on charges of robbery, aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property.

Thompson has proclaimed his innocence during appeals to the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Last Friday, he filed a petition with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown contending the evidence was insufficient to tie him to the murders.

He claimed that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense and that his attorneys erred by not calling an alibi witness who, he argues in his petition, “could have changed the outcome of the trial.”

He states in his petition his attorneys failed to call another witness who gave police a statement about the evening of the murder, noting: “I seen a suspicious individual cleaning a knife and boots off in a puddle of rainwater (not far from the scene of the murders) – once I turned my headlights on he took off.”

The woman stated the man she saw bore no resemblance to Thompson.

Thompson also complained in his petition that his attorneys never explained to him about “accomplice liability,” referring to a person who assists another in committing a robbery can also be found guilty of murders committed during the robbery – even though he did not commit the murders.

In addition, Thompson is challenging a conclusion by the former Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross concerning when the murders occurred.

She placed the time of death at between 7 and 8 p.m., but in his petition Thompson contends the estimate of the time of death was based on speculation only.

Investigators found a bloody boot print at the scene of the murders but it could not be traced to Thompson, the petition stated.

The Superior Court rejected Thompson’s appeal by adopting Carpenter’s opinion as its own.

The federal petition will be reviewed by Magistrate Judge Keith A. Pesto, who presides in Johnstown.

Thompson, now 43, is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution Houtzdale.