A man facing execution for a triple murder at a Houston bowling alley had his conviction reversed by a federal appeals court. In a 2-1 decision late Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans sent the case of Max Alexander Soffar, 45, back to district court. Justices said police had violated his rights during questioning and lawyers had rendered him inadequate representation. Texas must free Soffar unless a retrial begins within 120 days. Soffar had confessed to a 1980 Houston bowling alley robbery and the fatal shooting of Alane Felsher, 17; Tommy Lee Temple, 17; and Stephen Allen Sims, 25. A fourth shooting victim, Gregory Garner, 18, survived with permanent brain damage and lost his left eye. The appeals court determined Texas had violated the Fifth Amendment by questioning Soffar despite his request for a lawyer. Justices also found the Sixth Amendment had been violated because Soffar, after obtaining a lawyer, was questioned while being held on a different offense. The court's decision was also based on Soffar's claim he was represented inadequately by his lawyer, who the court said failed to present ballistics evidence and police statements by Garner, the surviving shooting victim. Garner's memory was discredited, and he did not testify at trial. Justice Emilio Garza issued a dissenting opinion, saying that, over the course of three hours, Soffar had waived his right to a lawyer after being told four times that he was entitled to one. Garza said nothing was on record to show Soffar misunderstood the offer. Soffar has said he was a drug addict who confessed in order to be executed because he wasn't brave enough to kill himself. ``I built this whole case so I could go to the Walls Unit and get a needle stuck and end this,'' Soffar said in a 1988 death row interview. ``There's not one piece of evidence to link me except my mouth.''.