Three Supreme Court judges from Victoria will begin hearing in October an appeal that could prevent David Eastman's retrial over the shooting death of ACT police chief Colin Winchester.
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But first Mr Eastman's lawyers will have to summarise the lengthy grounds of appeal into 10 pages for the Victorian judges.
Mr Eastman's stay application to permanently halt a retrial over Mr Winchester's murder in January 1989 was thrown out in April, meaning Mr Eastman is set to face a second jury over the killing.
His appeal against the decision not to stay his retrial came before the registrar's list in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday.
The court heard that Mr Eastman's appeal over five days before three Victorian judges would begin on October 24, but the judges would require the grounds of appeal in writing by July 7 to properly prepare.
Mr Eastman's defence barrister Louise Taylor was concerned his legal team wouldn't have the documents summarised into 10 pages in time.
But Crown prosecutor Keegan Lee pushed for the order to be made to give the judges enough time to read the documents before the October hearing.
The hearing is likely to take place in Melbourne, the court was told, although a formal decision was yet to be decided.
Registrar Grant Kennealy asked for the document to be served by July 7 but said Mr Eastman's legal team would have the opportunity to ask for more time if needed.
A judge for Mr Eastman's retrial was yet to be named, Mr Kennealy said.
Mr Eastman was freed from jail in 2014 after serving nearly 19 years behind bars for the killing of Mr Winchester, who was assistant Federal Police commissioner at the time.
Mr Winchester was shot twice in the head as he got out of his car in his neighbour's Canberra driveway in January 1989.
Mr Eastman was tried and found guilty of murder in 1995, but an inquiry later exposed significant flaws with the forensic evidence used to link him to the crime scene. That inquiry eventually led to his release from custody.
The ACT government set aside more than $3.3 million for Mr Eastman's potential retrial in the budget for the Director of Public Prosecutions and ACT's court system, as well as $1.7 million for Legal Aid, in the coming year.
In a separate civil case before the courts, Mr Eastman is attempting to sue the ACT government for wrongful imprisonment.
