The state of Missouri wants a man twice convicted in the 1990 slaying of a Chillicothe farm wife to remain behind bars for life despite a recent ruling that sharply criticized his conviction, the state attorney general's office said Thursday.

The office filed a protest with the state Supreme Court in the case of Mark Woodworth, who was convicted in 1995 in the death of his neighbor, Cathy Robertson, and again in 1999 following an appeal. Robertson's husband, Lyndel, who survived the shooting, was a business partner of Woodworth's father.

The Missouri Supreme Court appointed Boone County Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler in 2010 to review the case. Oxenhandler ruled May 1 that Woodworth was the victim of "a manifest injustice" who should either be freed or receive a new trial. The state filed its objections to Oxenhandler's ruling, legally known as exceptions, on the final day of its 30-day deadline to respond.