Ind. Delays Execution to Allow DNA Tests

[DUreader]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2965654,00.html



INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Gov. Frank O'Bannon
delayed a man's execution to allow for a DNA test
sought by defense attorneys and backed by a
prosecutor and three jurors.

The governor's order Monday for a 60-day stay
allows for testing of blood stains found on Darnell
Williams' clothing after the 1986 shooting of a
Gary couple. Williams was to be executed Friday.

Williams' attorneys say tests could show the blood
was from neither of the two shooting victims,
which would contradict evidence presented at
trial.

The prosecutor who tried the case, Thomas
Vanes, and three jurors who helped convict
Williams also support the DNA testing, a request
twice rejected by the Indiana Supreme Court.

O'Bannon, in office since 1997, had never before
stopped an execution.

[FlashHarry]

1. Thank God.

"Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Herrera v. Collins 506 US 390 1993

[Voltaire]

2. Good

I am right behind the Statehouse as we speak (I work for the Indiana Department of Correction). The Guv made a good move.

And now I can stop ducking reporters....LOL!

[ze_dscherman]

3. DNA may free man on death row (Nick Yarris)

PHILADELPHIA -- Nick Yarris, on death row 20 years for the rape-murder of an Upper Chichester woman, was cleared by DNA testing on three pieces of crime-scene evidence, the Federal Defender Office said Monday.

He would become the first death-row prisoner in Pennsylvania to be exonerated by DNA testing, according to the federal defenders who represent inmates facing the death sentence.


http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=9915435&BRD=1671&PAG=461&de

----------
Another still living reason to abolish death penalty