Inmate Seeks Reprieve From Execution for More DNA Tests

Defense attorneys for convicted murderer, Sedley Alley, requested a temporary reprieve from his execution Wednesday so that more DNA tests could ensure an innocent man won’t be put to death.

Alley’s lawyers asked that Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen pardon the execution and order genetic testing on the evidence presented at the 1985 rape and murder trial of 19-year-old Suzanne M. Collins.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied the request to order DNA testing on the evidence, which included seminal fluid and material found under the victim’s fingernails.

Defense attorneys revealed to the probation board that they have just learned that Collins’ boyfriend may have been present at the scene of the crime and is a possible suspect. The lawyers want to see if DNA tests of the crime evidence match the boyfriend.

Attorney Barry Scheck, co-founder of Innocence Project, a nonprofit group that uses DNA tests to exonerate wrongfully convicted criminals has complete faith in genetic testing. “I would not come in at the 11th hour if I didn’t have great confidence that this process would work,” he said.

Scheck wrote a letter to the governor urging him to order DNA tests. He wrote that the governor “may be the only person who can ensure that Mr. Alley is not executed before critical innocence-or-guilt proving DNA tests are conducted.”