A white man who is currently serving a life sentence for the death of a Black student in Annapolis, Maryland, is appealing his conviction.

ABC News reports Sean Urbanski was found guilty in Dec. 2019 of stabbing Lt. Richard Collins III to death at a bus stop in May 2017. Now, his attorneys are requesting a new trial from the Court of Special Appeals on the grounds that the jury shouldn't have seen racist memes on Urbanski's phone during his trial, leading them to believe the 2017 crime was racially motivated. 

Prince George's County prosecutors argued that the case was a racially charged hate crime, however, Judge Lawrence Hill Jr. dismissed the charge despite him saying he felt the crime was both influenced by alcohol and race, as Blavity previously reported. Prosecutors were able to provide evidence in the case showing at least six racist memes Urbanski kept on his phone as well as an interaction with a Facebook group called “Alt-Reich: Nation.”

But Urbanski's attorneys are saying the prosecution didn't prove that their client was racist or held racist views. 

"Rather, the State maintained that because (Urbanski) had racist memes on his phone, and because he assaulted a Black man, it followed that he had a racist motive and intent on the night of this crime,” the appeal states.

According to WTOP, the defense attorneys wrote that the judge should've declared the case a mistrial over the prosecution's failure to prove Collins was stabbed because he was Black. 

“It was only at the close of evidence that the trial court failed to show a nexus between the stabbing and the memes. It was, by then, too late. The memes had already been presented to the jury. Over and over again, throughout the trial, the State demonized [Urbanski] as a racist, suggesting he was motivated by hate, despite the lack of evidence to support this claim,” the lawyers wrote.

Prosecutors sought a life sentence without the possibility for parole. Though, with the judge's ruling, he'll be eligible for parole at some point.

Collins, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was just days away from graduating with his bachelor's degree from Bowie State University.