Call me skeptical, but the timing of this ~coming the week before Timmy Kaine is inaugurated~ is very suspicious.
Posted on 01/05/2006 5:42:11 PM PST by Former Military Chick
RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Mark R. Warner on Thursday ordered DNA evidence retested to determine whether a man convicted of rape and murder was innocent when he was executed in 1992.
If the testing shows Roger Keith Coleman did not rape and kill his sister-in-law in 1981, it will be the first time in the United States a person has been exonerated by scientific testing after his execution, according to death penalty opponents.
Warner said he ordered the tests because of technological advances that could provide a level of forensic certainty not available in the 1980s.
"This is an extraordinarily unique circumstance, where technology has advanced significantly and can be applied in the case of someone who consistently maintained his innocence until execution," said Warner, a Democrat who leaves office Jan. 14.
"I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence," Warner said.
Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of 19-year-old Wanda McCoy, his wife's sister, who was found raped, stabbed and nearly beheaded in her home in the coal mining town of Grundy.
The case drew international attention as the well-spoken Coleman pleaded his case on talk shows and in magazines and newspapers. Time magazine featured the coal miner on its cover. Pope John Paul II tried to block the execution. Then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's office was flooded with thousands of calls and letters of protest from around the world.
Warner, who is considering a presidential bid in 2008, has heard requests throughout his term from death penalty opposition groups who wanted the evidence retested.
"This is a proper action for the governor to take. It's not right to shy away from a difficult question or even shy away from reopening cases when there is a chance that something new might be learned," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.
Coleman's attorneys argued that he did not have time to commit the crime, that tests showed semen from two men was found inside McCoy and that another man bragged about murdering her. Coleman was executed on May 20, 1992.
"An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight," the 33-year-old said moments before he was electrocuted. "When my innocence is proven, I hope America will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have."
DNA tests in 1990 placed Coleman within the 2 percent of the population who could have produced the semen at the crime scene. Additional blood typing put Coleman within a group consisting of 0.2 percent of the population. His lawyers said the expert they hired to conduct the test misinterpreted the results.
Four newspapers and Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey organization that investigated Coleman's case and became convinced of his innocence, sought a court order to have the evidence retested. The Virginia Supreme Court declined to order the testing in 2002, so Centurion Ministries asked Warner to intervene.
But not to worry. When the DNA test proves him guilty, we'll never hear about it again. We especially won't hear that the DNA test proved him guilty.
If it exonerates him, on the other hand...
If the DNA exonerates him, the anti-death-penalty folks will say that 'now we must do away with the death penalty,' all the while overlooking that now we can determine guilt beyond a reasonable doubt with the same process. DNA can prove innocence, but it can also prove guilt, eliminating the 'innocent man' criticism of the death penalty.
The story has lingered on. My thought, this should have been done years ago. Folks on death row should have the opportunity to use the DNA testing, if it is at their request, that this will prove them some how entitled to a new trial, than groovy, but IF IT DOES NOT, than the family must pay for the tests.
Our system is not perfect. What would one say if this proves that it was not his DNA well than I would review at the case and see why this was their guy. Than hope there is still something to assist in finding the true assailant.
jmho
I am sure Governor Warner would love to be president. This could really put him in the spotlight if the DNA testing proves Coleman innocent. Of course, I'm sure that had nothing to do with Warner's decision in this matter.
That will be fodder for at least 3 episodes in the new, heavily advertised, TV show about this - "Injustice".
LVM
That will be fodder for at least 3 episodes in the new, heavily advertised, TV show about this - "Injustice".
tags corrected....
LVM
A positive match won't hurt him,but a mismatch will help him greatly with the DUmmie crowd who will reward him lots of $$$ and press.
A democRAT Southern Governor as the nominee in '08 will be tough to beat...unless we run a Southern Governor too.
How about George Allen?
I wonder if DNA testing will show that it wasn't Warner out partying with a teenage girl while his wife was out of town. You don't hear much about that story.
Where I'm at VA's are northerners.
:-)
Got link?
Well,Richmond was the capital of the CSA.I could see where those living near DC might be (philosophical) northerners,but what about the rest of the state?
There wouldn't be a "where you're at" if Virginia hadn't fought with the South.
Call me skeptical, but the timing of this ~coming the week before Timmy Kaine is inaugurated~ is very suspicious.
One thing that is never mentioned by all the anti-death-penalty activists is that removing one piece of physical evidence (or several) such as hair or even semen does not automatically exonerate the accused/convicted in many cases..... it might justify a new trial but would not always show that someone was truly INNOCENT..... there may be specimens of one or more other people on or in a murder victim which are unrelated to the crime committed (items from a boyfriend, etc. that might be unrelated to the crime).
Maybe this guy is innocent, maybe not, but there'd better be a thorough examination of the entire body of evidence that convicted him, not merely a shriek of "that's not his semen" or whatever..... of course, the anti-justice activists aren't really interested in facts, they're only interested in promoting their cause.
A very sad example of another aspect of the lunacy of the NYC "Central Park Jogger" case has been the travesty of the anti-justice activists who proclaim that because another man may also have raped the victim (in that case there never was any doubt that there were numerous assailants) the liberal-left charlatans in NYC, including the imbeciles at the NY Times, have promoted the view that the six CONFESSED rapists were somehow innocent because another man may have participated. They were ALL guilty. That's a rather unique case, of course, but it's a good example of the lengths to which leftist activists have gone to trash our justice system.
WOW! The Governor of Virginia has a time machine. (2006-1992 = 14)
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