PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Yesterday, as I celebrated a warm, joyous father's day with several of my children and grand-children, I couldn't help but think about April Alley, who was unable to experience similar joy because her father had been executed by the State of Tennessee after being denied the DNA testing which could have proved to be powerful evidence of his innocence. I am therefore continuing my efforts to draw attention to the petition she has launched as executor of her father's estate for post-conviction DNA evidence. The link to April Alley's petition can be found below:
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It’s too late for my father, but it’s not too late to find the truth."
April Alley.
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QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY: "The court or Governor Lee should order DNA testing.
April Alley
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Sedley Alley was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Marine Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins. There are numerous items of evidence–including men’s red underwear that police believed were worn by her attacker–found near Ms. Collins’s body that, if subjected to DNA testing, could provide powerful proof of innocence and even help find the real assailant. A leading expert has concluded that Alley’s confession was likely false because key details in his statement have been disproven by forensic evidence and other problems with interrogation procedures. Reinvestigation of the case over the years has shown that the evidence against Alley was weak."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In 2006, the Tennessee Board of Parole recommended that then-Governor Bredesen stay Alley’s execution and order DNA testing. Instead of exercising his power to order DNA testing, the governor directed Alley’s defense team to present their request for testing to the trial court in Memphis. The trial court incorrectly ruled that, in considering whether to grant a convicted person DNA testing, the court could not consider the ability of DNA testing to link crime scene evidence to a known individual through the CODIS database. The Tennessee appellate courts affirmed this decision, but reversed it five years later. In 2011, in State v. Powers, the Tennessee Supreme Court overruled Alley’s case and clarified that Tennessee’s post-conviction DNA analysis statute intended to prove innocence by searching DNA profiles from crime scene evidence in the CODIS DNA databank, which contains approximately 14 million profiles from convicted offenders If Alley were alive today, he would be entitled to DNA testing under the Powers ruling and the plain language of the post-conviction DNA analysis statute. The trial court was wrong in 2006, as the Tennessee Supreme Court made clear when it overruled its earlier decision to deny Alley’s request for DNA testing."
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RELEASE: "The search for the truth after execution: Sedley Alley was executed for murder in 2006 despite tell-tale signs of a wrongful conviction for murder and DNA evidence that could have proved his innocence. Now his daughter April has requested the DNA testing her father was denied," by Innocence Project staff, published by The Innocence Project on May 5, 2019.
GIST: "In 2006, Sedley Alley
was executed by the state of Tennessee after the courts refused to
conduct DNA testing that could have helped uncover the truth. On May 1,
2019, his daughter April Alley, the executor of his estate, petitioned
the Criminal Court for Shelby County, Tennessee for post-conviction DNA
testing of the evidence in the case. If April is granted these tests, it’ll bring a small measure of justice to their family: a chance to reveal the truth.
BACKGROUND: "Executed without a chance of DNA testing: Execution: Lethal injection by state of Tennessee on June 28, 2006: Final Words: “Yes, to my
children. April, David, can you hear me? I love you. Stay strong.” Alley
then thanked the prison chaplain and said, “I love you, David. I love
you, April. Be good and stay together. Stay strong.” Sedley Alley was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Marine Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie
Collins. There are numerous items of evidence–including men’s red
underwear that police believed were worn by her attacker–found near Ms.
Collins’s body that, if subjected to DNA testing, could provide powerful
proof of innocence and even help find the real assailant. A leading
expert has concluded that Alley’s confession was likely false because
key details in his statement have been disproven by forensic evidence
and other problems with interrogation procedures. Reinvestigation of the
case over the years has shown that the evidence against Alley was weak. In 2006,
the Tennessee Board of Parole recommended that then-Governor Bredesen
stay Alley’s execution and order DNA testing. Instead of exercising his
power to order DNA testing, the governor directed Alley’s defense team
to present their request for testing to the trial court in Memphis. The
trial court incorrectly ruled that, in considering whether to grant a
convicted person DNA testing, the court could not consider the ability
of DNA testing to link crime scene evidence to a known individual
through the CODIS database. The Tennessee appellate courts affirmed this
decision, but reversed it five years later. In 2011, in State v. Powers,
the Tennessee Supreme Court overruled Alley’s case and clarified that
Tennessee’s post-conviction DNA analysis statute intended to prove
innocence by searching DNA profiles from crime scene evidence in the
CODIS DNA databank, which contains approximately 14 million profiles
from convicted offenders If Alley were alive today, he would be entitled to DNA testing under the Powers ruling
and the plain language of the post-conviction DNA analysis statute. The
trial court was wrong in 2006, as the Tennessee Supreme Court made
clear when it overruled its earlier decision to deny Alley’s request for
DNA testing. On May 1,
2019, April Alley, the daughter of Sedley Alley and the executor of his
estate, petitioned the Criminal Court for Shelby County, Tennessee, in
Memphis for post-conviction DNA testing of the evidence in her father’s
case.
The entire release can be read at:
https://www.innocenceproject.org/sedley-alley/
The petition can be signed here: (Stand with April Alley and the Innocence Project in urging the Tennessee court or Governor Lee to order DNA testing of the evidence in Sedley Alley’s case);
The entire release can be read at:
https://www.innocenceproject.org/sedley-alley/
The petition can be signed here: (Stand with April Alley and the Innocence Project in urging the Tennessee court or Governor Lee to order DNA testing of the evidence in Sedley Alley’s case);
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