WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court will consider whether prosecutors have to face a lawsuit from two men whose convictions for killing a retired police officer were set aside.

The justices said Monday they'll hear an appeal in the fall from former Pottawattamie County, Iowa, prosecutors.

They are being sued by Curtis McGhee Jr. and Terry Harrington, who were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1978 for the death of retired police officer John Schweer.

The men were released from prison after 25 years. Evidence showed that police and prosecutors had failed to share evidence that pointed to another man as a possible suspect in Schweer's slaying. Some witnesses also recanted their testimony.

McGhee and Harrington filed lawsuits against the former prosecutors, including former County Attorney Dave Richter and his assistant Joseph Hrvol. They claimed authorities were eager to charge someone and that they were targeted because they are black. They also sued current County Attorney Matt Wilber after he suggested that the right men had been convicted.

Charges weren't refiled against Harrington. McGhee entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder and received credit for time already served. Under the Alford plea, McGhee didn't admit guilt but acknowledged that there was evidence to convict him. He has moved to set aside the plea, arguing that it was coerced and based on fabricated evidence.

Richter and Hrvol argued that they were immune from lawsuits because they were acting within the scope of their job.

Federal courts, however, rejected their motions to dismiss the lawsuits.

In February, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said immunity doesn't extend to the actions of a county attorney who violates a person's substantive due-process rights by obtaining, manufacturing, coercing and fabricating evidence before filing formal charges, "because this is not ‘a distinctly prosecutorial function.' "

Stephen Davis, an attorney who represents McGhee, said he believes the 8th Circuit "got it right."

"I think that prosecutors who fabricate evidence during an investigation have the same liability of the police officers they were working with," he said. "We expect to make those points (to the Supreme Court), and we think that's the right result."

Telephone messages left for attorneys for Harrington, the former prosecutors and the county weren't immediately returned.

The case is Pottawattamie County v. McGhee, 08-1065.