SEATTLE — An appeals court in Washington is weighing the fate of two B.C. men who were targeted by an RCMP sting and then imprisoned for murder in the U.S.

Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay were 18 years old in 1994, when Rafay's parents and his autistic sister were beaten to death with a baseball bat in their home in Bellevue, Washington.

The men were arrested in Vancouver in 1995, and deported in 2001.

Burns and Rafay had been targeted by the RCMP in a so-called "Mister Big" sting, in which undercover officers invite a suspect into a fake criminal organization to illicit a confession.

The pair did indeed offer a confession, which was videotaped and presented at their trial.

But their lawyers are now arguing the confessions were unreliable, and that American courts have rejected similar stings.

Defence lawyer David Koch argued jurors should have been able to hear expert evidence on false confessions.

The state appeals court will issue a decision at a later date.