Jeffrey MacDonald is coming back to court in North Carolina, where the former Army doctor will get a new chance to argue he's innocent of butchering his pregnant wife and two daughters at Fort Bragg 36 years ago.

A federal appeals court told MacDonald's lawyers Friday that they may pursue a rare fourth appeal.

The new appeal is based on the claim of Jimmy Britt, a retired federal marshal from Apex, that MacDonald's lead prosecutor at his 1979 trial lied to the judge and intimidated a key witness into changing her testimony.

MacDonald's supporters hope to win his freedom or a new trial.

"This is such a turning point in his case," his wife, Kathryn MacDonald, said Friday as she fought back tears. "It has restored my faith in justice. I'm overjoyed."

MacDonald's prosecutors hope to keep him locked up.

"We're resigned to litigating with him as long as he's alive and in prison," said Brian Murtagh, a U.S. Justice Department attorney in Washington. "I haven't jumped out of any windows yet."

Jim Blackburn, the former lawyer from Raleigh who prosecuted MacDonald with Murtagh's help, had little to say Friday about the ruling. "We'll address it at the right time in court," he said.

MacDonald, 62, is serving three life sentences in federal prison in Maryland for the Feb. 17, 1970, stabbing and beating murders of his first wife, Colette, 26, and their daughters Kimberley, 5, and Kristen, 2, at their Fort Bragg apartment. His first request for parole was denied in June.

The case was dramatized in a best-selling book and television miniseries, "Fatal Vision," which suggested MacDonald was guilty.

Another book, "Fatal Justice," argued for his innocence.

Internet sites pro and con feed the public's appetite for information and debate about MacDonald's conviction, which Murtagh said appears to be the longest-running federal criminal case in the nation's history.

Lawyers on both sides of the case said the appeals court's ruling surprised them.

In allowing MacDonald's appeal to proceed, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., might have lent it credence. That's because to approve a hearing in a lower trial court, the appeals court had to rule that MacDonald is raising evidence he couldn't have presented at trial -- and that, if it were proved true, reasonable jurors would not have found MacDonald guilty.

"We're very pleased," said MacDonald's lead lawyer, Tim Junkin of Maryland.

"We're looking forward to a full and fair hearing. We hope it will lead to Jeffrey MacDonald's exoneration."

Apex man at center

The new appeal centers on Britt's recollection of events at MacDonald's trial 27 years ago, when Britt was a federal marshal working in the courtroom.

Britt, 67, swore under oath last year that during the trial, Helena Stoeckley, a Fayetteville woman police had initially suspected but later ruled out as the killer, told him she had been in the MacDonalds' apartment with friends the night of the murders.

Britt also says Stoeckley told Blackburn the same thing in an interview before she testified. In response, Britt alleges, Blackburn told Stoeckley that he would charge her with murder if she told the same story in court.

When Stoeckley testified, she said she had not been in the MacDonalds' apartment.

MacDonald's lawyers argue that if trial judge Franklin Dupree Jr. had known of Stoeckley's alleged confession, he might have allowed testimony from other people who said Stoeckley had told them, too.

Instead, Dupree ruled that because Stoeckley was a notorious drug abuser whose ever-changing story didn't match the murder evidence, the proposed testimony of the other people wasn't credible and couldn't be presented.

Stoeckley died in 1983.

Blackburn vehemently denies Britt's claim. He says that Stoeckley never confessed to him and that he didn't threaten her.

In papers filed with the appeals court, Murtagh and another federal lawyer said it's almost inconceivable that Britt's recollection of events is accurate.

Credibility at issue

Blackburn, 59, is a popular motivational speaker who lost his law license 13 years ago for stealing client funds from his law firm to pay other clients money he pretended to have won for them. For several years afterward, he worked as a waiter at Raleigh's 42nd Street Oyster Bar.

Blackburn's actions and credibility are sure to be a focus of MacDonald's hearing, as yet unscheduled.

On one hand, Blackburn's travails will be publicized more. On the other hand, he'll be free to counter Britt's contention.

Britt's trustworthiness, likewise, will be challenged.

"My feeling is that we will wind up litigating the credibility of Mr. Britt's affidavit, which we're prepared to do," Murtagh said. "This is a 'he said, he said' dispute."

Britt says he's ready.

"I have no reservations whatsoever about testifying in federal court," he said Friday. "I gave my country 40 years. How can they attack my integrity? My record's clean. That's more than I can say about Jim Blackburn."

Mrs. MacDonald said she'll discuss the proceedings with her husband today when she meets with him in prison.

"This has been a long haul," she said. "We're so grateful to Mr. Britt for having the courage to come forward. We're looking forward to the hearing."

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