SAVANNAH, Ga. - The federal appeals court in Atlanta will hear arguments Dec. 9 on whether death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis can continue to challenge his conviction in the killing of a Savannah police officer, a state official said Wednesday.

Russ Willard, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said a three-judge 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel will hear arguments on whether Davis can file a second federal challenge to his conviction.

The 11th Circuit issued a stay of execution three days before the 40-year-old Davis was scheduled to die Oct. 27 for the 1989 murder of Officer Mark MacPhail.

It was the third time since July 2007 that Davis has been spared the death penalty by a late court decision.

Defense lawyers have tried to win a new hearing for Davis since several witnesses who identified him as the killer came forward and changed their testimony, saying that another man shot MacPhail.

The officer was working off-duty as a security guard at a bus station when he rushed to help a homeless man who had been pistol-whipped at a nearby parking lot. The 27-year-old was shot twice when he approached Davis and two other men.

Davis' lawyers say new evidence proves their client was a victim of mistaken identity.

Prosecutors have said the case is closed. In court hearings, they said some of the affidavits repeat what a jury trial already has heard, while others are irrelevant because they came from witnesses who never testified.

District Attorney Spencer Lawton also said he doubts the new testimony meets the legal standards for a new trial. And while the recantations may seem persuasive to some, Lawton said, "to others of us it invites a suggestion of manipulation, making it very difficult to believe."

Davis was set to be executed in July 2007, but Georgia's pardons board postponed the execution less than 24 hours before it was to be carried out.

Over the next few months, a divided Georgia Supreme Court twice rejected Davis' request for a new trial, and the pardons board turned down another bid for clemency after considering the case again.

Then, two hours before his scheduled Sept. 23 execution, the Supreme Court issued a stay. A few weeks later, the high court cleared the way for the execution when it decided not to give Davis another hearing.