ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A Missouri judge has thrown out the conviction of a University City man, who’s spent 29 years in prison for the rape and murder of a St. Louis woman.

Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green has given the St. Louis Circuit Attorney 10 days to decide whether to retry 56-year-old George Allen Junior, or he will be freed.

Allen is serving a 95-year sentence for the rape and murder of Mary Bell at her home during the historic snow storm of 1982.

Lawyers with the Innocence Project took up Allen’s case in 2010.  They say he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who was coached by police into confessing.  They say new lab tests and forensic evidence not shared with the defense cleared him.