HOUSTON -- A retrial began Monday for a man convicted of shooting four people, killing three of them, at a northwest Houston bowling alley more than 25 years ago, KPRC Local 2 reported.

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On The Net: Max Soffar

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Max Soffar, 49, was 24 years old when authorities said he confessed to the robbery and shooting at the Fair Lanes Bowling Alley, located on Highway 290. A lawyer was not present when Soffar made the confession, which came after three days of intense interrogation.

The victims were Arden Alane Felsher, 17; Tommy Lee Temple, 17; and Stephen Allen Sims, 25. Greg Garner was the only shooting victim who survived. However, he could not positively identify Soffar as the shooter.

"You figure an 18-year-old kid with a gun sticking in his face, and you know he's scared to death, and after he gets shot, who's he going to identify?" Garner's father, Ira Garner, said.

Greg Garner, who was an employee at the bowling ally, is disfigured from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.

Soffar was sent to death row in 1981. An appeals court panel with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in December 2000 after determining his rights had been violated because an attorney was not present during his confession. The full court reinstated the conviction in September 2001.

The same court ordered a new trial for Soffar in 2005 after judges decided that his lawyer, Joe Cannon, failed to represent him effectively during his first trial.

Twenty-five years has not eased the pain or anger for Ira Garner.

"They should have killed him a long time ago. They should have had him on that gurney. That's my opinion," he said.

Ira Garner and his wife were the first to testify. Greg Garner managed to call them immediately after the robbery and shooting.

Greg Garner's mother testified that her son did not make sense on the phone until she asked if he was bleeding. He responded, "Yes, and I'm holding my left eye in my hand."

Greg Garner is expected to provide key testimony because his account differs from the confession.

Soffar's supporters -- which includes the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted, professor David Dow with the University of Houston's Innocence Project and humorist and gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman -- said no evidence or eyewitness testimony placed him at the scene, and that he has not been linked to the weapon used in the crime, which was never found.

Defense attorneys said Soffar fabricated his written confessions.

Soffar has entered a not guilty plea to the murders.

Katherine Kase and John Niland of the Texas Defender Service are representing Soffar in the retrial.