A state appeals court has reinstated a trial jury's second-degree murder conviction of a man who killed a Marine on leave during a July 2009 party in Lake Charles.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeal, in an opinion released Wednesday, reversed a ruling by state District Judge Ron Ware that substituted the jury's verdict with a manslaughter verdict in the case of Bryce Perkins. Perkins was found guilty on Feb. 10, 2011, in the fatal shooting of Daniel Gueringer.

Ware threw out that conviction at Perkins' sentencing hearing. With the manslaughter conviction, he sentenced Perkins to 30 years in prison, 20 of which would be served without the possibility of parole.

The appeals court ordered Ware to re-sentence Perkins in accordance with the jury's conviction.

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