Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Larry Swearingen: New DNA testing and review of scientific evidence on time of death sought from Death Row. Reporter Brandi Grissom; The Digital Texan.


STORY: "Death Row: Larry Swearingen inmate seeking new DNA testing", by reporter Brandi Grisson, published by the Digital Texan  on January 17, 2013.

PHOTO CAPTION:  "Death row inmate Larry Swearingen during an interview at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Melissa Trotter. He says he is innocent and that she was killed while he was already in jail for other offenses."
 
GIST:   "After Texas courts rejected a litany of scientific testimony that Larry Swearingen and his lawyers say proves that he was in jail at the time of the 1998 murder for which he is set to be executed next month, his lawyers are seeking new DNA testing and asking the state’s highest criminal court to reconsider its latest rejection. In a motion filed Thursday with the state’s Ninth District Court in Montgomery County, James Rytting, a lawyer for Swearingen, and lawyers from the New York-based Innocence Project asked the court for a fourth time to allow DNA testing on evidence they say could prove Swearingen’s innocence in the death of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter and perhaps lead to her real killer. Rytting, in a separate motion filed Wednesday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, has also asked the judges to again review the dispute over whether scientific evidence proves it was impossible for Swearingen to have killed Trotter. “Our belief is we have proved he’s innocent 10 times over,” Rytting said.
 
The entire story can be found at:

http://digitaltexan.net/2013/state/death-row-larry-swearingen-inmate-seeking-dna-testing/article45227/#.UPwUuuhreHk

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.