Carol Murphy

A Boulder County judge will decide whether defense attorneys can present alternative suspects to jurors during next month’s trial of Kevin Elmarr, who is charged in the two-decade-old killing of his ex-wife.

On May 23, 1987, hikers discovered the strangled, nude body of Elmarr’s ex-wife, Carol Murphy, about 11 miles up Lefthand Canyon. In January 2007, new DNA technology gave investigators evidence to arrest Elmarr on suspicion of murder.

Elmarr’s defense team says there are a half-dozen others who should be revealed to the jury as alternative suspects — including a former boyfriend who lived with Murphy for up to 18 months beginning in 1984. That man allegedly choked her during a domestic dispute, which defense attorney Kristin Johnson said could be key, given that Murphy was strangled to death.

But during a motions hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Bruce Langer said there’s not enough evidence to link the alternative suspects to the crime. The connections, he said, don’t rise to the legal standards to be presented during the trial.

Other alternative suspects include a transient living near the camp site where Murphy was killed, as well as men with whom the victim had intimate relationships.

The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to keep the other suspects from being presented to the jury by the defense.

Both sides asked for a quick ruling from Boulder County Judge James Klein, as the attorneys want to prepare their cases for the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 25.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Elmarr faces life in prison. He appeared in court Tuesday wearing a navy blue jail jumpsuit.

At the time of his arrest, Elmarr, 51, of Longmont, was a volunteer for the Longmont Emergency Unit swift-water rescue team.

Another motions hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15.