UNIONTOWN, Pa.—Attorneys representing a man facing retrial in the 1987 stabbing death of a waitress are asking a judge to let a higher court review a decision allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Fifty-year-old Mark Breakiron of Hopwood was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the 1987 murder of 24-year-old Saundra Martin of Smithfield. A federal judge last year overturned the conviction, citing tainted testimony from another inmate.

Prosecutors said Breakiron stabbed the victim 20 times and cut her throat before stealing her purse and bags of money from Shenanigan's Lounge in German Township.

Judge Steve Leskinen last month denied a defense motion to quash aggravating factors of torture and robbery cited by prosecutors as justifying execution. Attorneys want that decision reviewed by the state Superior Court.