BATON ROUGE - One of two men serving life prison terms in the 1989 drug-related slaying of four people inside a Zachary mobile home is asking a federal judge to reverse his second-degree murder convictions.

47-year-old Freddie King Jr. claims the performance of his court-appointed trial attorneys was constitutionally deficient - an allegation each of his former lawyers disputed Monday.

Mike Walsh told The Advocate he and his co-counsel were successful in persuading prosecutors to drop the death-penalty part of the case.

King alleges in his federal court petition that his attorneys failed to independently investigate the facts of the case; failed to effectively cross-examine two witnesses; and stated during jury selection and in opening trial statements that King was at the trailer and shot two of the four victims who died.