Deon Lomax Clopten -- whose murder conviction was overturned in December because of eyewitness identification issues -- will get a second trial in August.
Clopten, 34, was convicted four years ago of the Dec. 1, 2002, fatal shooting of Tony Fuailemaa, 27, outside Club X-Scape in Salt Lake City.
Clopten maintained another man was responsible for the shooting and he hired an expert to testify about the potential problems with eyewitness identification.
But the trial judge refused to allow the expert to testify and instead gave a jury instruction, which had been the common practice of courts for two decades.
But the Utah Supreme Court ruled the expert should have been allowed to testify that eyewitnesses are prone to identifying the wrong person as the perpetrator of a crime, particularly when the person is of a different race.
The high court also said judges now will be expected to allow such witnesses.
The accuracy of eyewitness identification is "significantly affected by factors such as the amount of time the culprit was in view, lighting conditions, use of a disguise, distinctiveness of the culprit's appearance and the presence of a weapon or other distractions," according to the court's ruling.
Third District Judge Randall Skanchy set Clopten's trial to begin Aug. 2.
