POST: "
Larry Swearingen set to be executed," by reporter Lindsey Henry, published by FOX 26 on August 10, 2017.
GIST:
"Defense attorneys for Larry Swearingen tried time after time to appeal and overturn his murder conviction, but a
judge has finally set a date for his execution. He still maintains his innocence. "It's like unfinished
business that just doesn't go away," says Charles Trotter. Charles says the hearings would have ended years ago if the defense would have done DNA testing on evidence used in the case. "If
they would have tested that evidence for DNA, they would not have found
anything than what had already been found because see it was tested and
it would have closed the avenue for appeals and they would have had no
basis to file an appeal", says Charles Trotter"
http://www.fox26houston.com/news/273174026-story
See previous post of this Blog (Monday February 2, 2009: Editorial support from Houston Chronicle two days before date set for execution), at the link below: " Larry Swearingen had the support of the Houston Chronical which ran an
editorial headed,"Room for doubt: Convicted murderer’s execution should
be stayed pending reconsideration of evidence," on January, 22, 2009,
two days before he was to be executed;
"Larry Ray Swearingen
has lived on Texas death row for eight years, convicted of the
rape-murder of a Montgomery County coed in 1998," the editorial began;
"He
is scheduled for execution by lethal injection in Huntsville next
Tuesday, despite the fact that a growing body of evidence indicates he
could not have strangled 19-year-old Melissa Trotter and dumped her body
in Sam Houston National Forest," the editorial continued;
"With
the inmate facing an irreversible sentence — capital punishment — it is
imperative that Texas Gov. Rick Perry stay the execution to prevent the
death of a possibly innocent man. While plenty of circumstantial
evidence indicated Swearingen, a convicted rapist, was a logical
suspect, forensic facts not presented at his trial point elsewhere.
Trotter’s body was discovered 10 years ago on Jan. 2, nearly a month
after her disappearance from the Montgomery College campus in Conroe. However,
Swearingen was jailed on traffic warrants three days after the woman
went missing. Although prosecutors theorized that Trotter was killed and
her body dumped in the forest the day of her disappearance, the corpse
was amazingly well preserved when discovered. Six physicians and
forensic scientists who reviewed the evidence concluded that the victim
died well after Swearingen’s arrest. Former Harris County Chief
Medical Examiner Joye Carter, who testified against Swearingen in his
trial, reexamined the physical evidence and has concluded that Trotter’s
death occurred at least a week after Swearingen was taken into custody.
One expert, using a technique familiar to viewers of the CSI TV
series, confirmed that finding by dating the development of insect
larvae in the victim’s body. Other exculpatory evidence included
blood samples found under Trotter’s fingernails and a pubic hair
recovered from a vaginal swab that came from someone other than
Swearingen. The strongest evidence linking the inmate to the
murder was the fact he was seen with Trotter on campus the day she
disappeared, and a torn stocking matching a piece used to strangle her
was found at the man’s trailer. Oddly, the hose turned up after the
trailer was twice searched by Montgomery County deputies. Lawmen did not
disclose during the trial that Trotter had received phone threats from
another man. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals correctly stayed
Swearingen’s execution last year on the basis of the new evidence. It
inexplicably later denied his appeal for a new trial without addressing
the seeming impossibility of his involvement in the woman’s killing. The
inmate’s attorney, James Rytting, is currently working on a new appeal
with the assistance of the New York-based Innocence Project. They are
seeking DNA testing of the pantyhose and blood samples. Rytting told the
Chronicle’s Lisa Falkenberg that despite the contradictions,
prosecutors continue to spin far-fetched theories, such as the
possibility that Swearingen had refrigerated Trotter’s body and then had
an unknown accomplice dispose of it while he was jailed. Dr.
Glenn Larkin, a retired forensic pathologist who reviewed the case, told
Texas Monthly that “no rational and intellectually honest person can
look at the evidence and conclude Larry Swearingen is guilty of this
horrible crime.” He may not be a saint, but Swearingen does not deserve to die for someone else’s crime. Governor
Perry should halt the execution to allow more testing that may
exonerate the convict and point toward an at-large killer. "
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/15dcfd71aa4b8b2e
