CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A judge on Monday heard arguments over whether prosecutors should be able to reserve the right to retry three East Cleveland men whose 1996 murder convictions were overturned.

Lawyers for Eugene Johnson, Laurese Glover and Derrick Wheatt argue that Judge Nancy Margaret Russo should dismiss the case with prejudice, which would leave prosecutors no chance to ever bring fresh charges against them men in the 1995 murder of Clifton Hudson

Prosecutors violated the men's constitutional rights to a fair trial in 1996 when they did not turn over evidence that could have exonerated them in the killing, a team of lawyers argued in court documents filed in December.

Prosecutors countered that they can't rule out the possibility of ever bringing new charges against the trio, and asked Russo in August not to alter an agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys to have the charges dismissed without prejudice. This, despite the fact that prosecutors have made no indication that they would bring new charges against the three men any time soon.

Judge Russo took the arguments under advisement and made no decision on Monday. She's expected to issue a written ruling at a later date. 

Johnson, Glover and Wheatt were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for Hudson's murder on Strathmore Avenue. Prosecutors at the time said the men were in an SUV when they killed Hudson. 

After spending nearly 20 years in prison, Russo in 2015 ordered a new trial after lawyers working for the Ohio Innocence Project found evidence was suppressed at the original trial that threw into question the state's theory.

Two brothers, who were 8 and 10 years old at the time, told investigators that they saw the shooter run from a nearby U.S. Post Office, not an SUV. And another eyewitness, who was 14 years old at the time of the shooting, recanted her identification of Johnson after the three were convicted.

The lawyers also found a 1996 letter from then-assistant prosecutor Carmen Marino to East Cleveland police instructing them not to give defense attorneys the police reports containing the boys' statements. 

The Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals upheld Russo's 2015 decision to overturn the convictions. The next month, prosecutors reached an agreement with the men's lawyers to ask Russo to dismiss the original charges without prejudice. 

In the written request for dismissal, prosecutors argued that they wanted to investigate the case further and potentially interview other eyewitnesses who did not testify, including a man who lived next door to the shooting scene who identified Johnson, the court filing said.

Russo granted the motion in August, and all charges against the men were dropped.

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