MEMPHIS, Tenn.—A Memphis judge has left a legal path open for two Arkansas police officers to avoid trial on reckless homicide charges. Officers Tony Galtelli and John Gardner are accused of recklessly shooting into a car in which two people died of gunshots during a traffic chase that began in Arkansas and ended in Memphis. Judge John Fowlkes ruled at a hearing Friday that Memphis prosecutors wrongly refused to consider putting the officers on diversion—a legal procedure that allows people accused of breaking the law to avoid criminal charges following a period of good behavior. Prosecutors have 30 days to appeal the judge’s order. The shooting in July 2004 killed 38-year-old Donald Rickard, a motorist who fled from police in West Memphis, Ark., and 44-year-old Kelly Anne Allen, a passenger in Rickard’s car.