RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s Attorney General is opposing an effort to exonerate a man serving a 153-year prison sentence for a sexual assault more than two decades ago.

The Innocence Project filed papers in the Supreme Court of Virginia in June arguing that DNA tests prove that Nathaniel E. Epps and Percell F. Warren were wrongfully convicted in the attack.

But the Richmond Times Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2b62jRJ ) that Attorney General Mark Herring’s office says in a motion to dismiss on Friday that Epps has failed to prove that no rational juror would convict him in light of the new evidence. Herring Spokesman Michael Kelly says the new evidence is “far from conclusive proof of innocence.”

Epps has 20 days to respond to the state and could request an evidentiary hearing.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com