RICHMOND

After 16 years behind bars, Dustin Turner’s last hope for freedom now rests with the Virginia Supreme Court.

The seven high-court justices questioned both sides vigorously Monday as Turner’s lawyer made his final argument for releasing the former Navy SEAL trainee convicted of murdering a Georgia college student at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in 1995.

Turner has petitioned the courts for release on the basis of a post-conviction confession by his co-defendant and SEAL “swim buddy,” Billy Joe Brown, that he alone was responsible for the murder of Jennifer Evans.

Both men were convicted in the sensational case and sentenced to long terms that amount to life in prison under Virginia’s no-parole law.

Turner, 36, has petitioned for a “writ of actual innocence” under a 2004 law that allows consideration of new nonbiological evidence of innocence after sentencing. If Turner is successful, his would be the first murder conviction overturned under the law.

Turner has received mixed signals from the courts so far. A Virginia Beach circuit judge ruled Brown’s confession credible, prompting a three-judge appeals court panel to rule that Turner should be freed. When that decision was overturned by the full state Court of Appeals, Turner made his final appeal to the Supreme Court.

Turner’s lawyer, David Hargett, told the justices that Brown’s confession has forced the state to change its theory of the case. At the original trial, prosecutors said Turner and Brown conspired to abduct and sexually assault Evans. Brown’s confession makes it clear that didn’t occur, Hargett said.

“There’s no evidence of any arrangement, any plan,” he said. “In fact, the evidence is exactly the opposite.”

It’s now clear that Evans went willingly with Turner to his car in the parking lot of the Bayou, a now-defunct Oceanfront nightspot, and that Brown came along later and choked her to death in an alcohol-fueled rage, Hargett said.

Turner and Brown were convicted of murdering Evans in the course of committing another felony, “abduction with intent to defile.”

Assistant Attorney General Robert Anderson, arguing for the state, faced sharp questioning on that point from Chief Justice Cynthia Kinser.

“What’s the evidence of intent to defile?” Kinser asked.

Anderson said trial testimony established that “these two men regularly sought out women for three-way sex.”

Even if that was true, Hargett countered, there is no evidence that Evans was restrained or that a sexual assault occurred.

Several justices seemed to wrestle with the circuit judge’s finding that Brown’s confession is credible.

“What do we do with the circuit court finding?” Justice LeRoy Millette asked Anderson. “Do we duck that issue?”

Anderson argued that the circuit judge ignored or misread evidence from the trial and that his ruling should be reversed.

Hargett faced tough questioning from Justice Donald Lemons, who noted that two versions of Brown’s confession have emerged, differing on the suddenness of Evans’ death.

The differing versions “concern me greatly,” Lemons said, raising the possibility that Brown’s confession was doctored after he signed it.

Hargett couldn’t explain the discrepancy but said it is irrelevant because the circuit judge questioned Brown under oath and found him credible.

The court’s decision is expected in a few months.