FAIRBANKS -- A man recently convicted of murdering an Alaska woman nearly 30 years ago has asked for a new trial or a dismissal of his case, claiming prosecutors withheld DNA evidence pointing to a different suspect.

But prosecutor Patrick Gullufsen said the DNA evidence was inconclusive and was not withheld.

Gullufsen told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that other evidence against Jimmy Eacker was overwhelming.

Eacker, 56, worked as a cook and handyman in Fairbanks until his arrest in 2007. He was convicted in March of first-degree murder for the 1982 stabbing death of Toni Lister, 29, in Seward.

Evidence at Eacker's trial showed Lister's DNA was found on his pants in the same location as blood splotches.

The pants were taken as evidence after Lister was reported missing by her husband in March 1982. Eacker became a suspect after he was identified as the last person seen with her.

Assistant Public Defender Benjamin Adams filed a motion last month asking for a dismissal or for a new trial, arguing the jury might have acquitted Eacker had they known about other DNA evidence.

Gullufsen urged state Superior Court Judge Anna Moran to deny the motion in a response filed Tuesday. Moran has six months to rule.

The undisclosed evidence shows that DNA from an unknown man was found on the victim.

"It is exculpatory because it shows that Ms. Lister potentially had sexual contact with another man around the time of her death," the public defender wrote.

Adams said the prosecutor did not turn over the evidence until the day of Eacker's sentencing.

Gullufsen, however, argued the test results from the DNA swabs are inconclusive because too much time had passed.

Gullufsen said the defense had a chance to get the test results but declined the state's early offer to jointly participate in the testing. He said that the results would have had no bearing on the jury's decision to convict Eacker.

"Eacker was offered an extra set of keys so he could have his own access to the evidence," Gullufsen wrote.

"He chose not to take them. He shouldn't now be allowed to start over again because there was something there that he claims he should have been provided with when he had the opportunity to provide it to himself."

Eacker claimed he gave Lister a ride home from a bar and they had consensual sex, but Lister was alive when Eacker left her.