The Maori Party has thrown its support behind Teina Pora and is relieved that the convicted murderer can be heard again in court.
The Privy Council in London has announced it will hear Pora's appeal against his conviction for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett in her South Auckland home.
Pora, 38, has spent 20 years in jail for the crimes, which he says he did not commit.
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says the party last year wrote letters to Prime Minister John Key and Attorney-General Chris Finlayson asking that Pora be granted a Royal Prerogative of Mercy. However, nothing has happened.
Mr Flavell says he believes Pora was a naive, young, brown man in the wrong place at the wrong time and that it is important he gets his day in court.
Pora's whanau grateful for the party's support, he says.
