Gov Warner seeks DNA for executed man

The Washington Post has the story of Gov Mark Warner ordering a DNA Test for a man, Roger K. Coleman, who has already been put to death via execution.

Since 1973 when the Death Penalty was re-established after being briefly repealed by the Supreme Court, the Innocence Project has used DNA to exonerate 172 condemnded individuals.

A similar finding in this case, that this man was wrongly executed could be a major blow to the legitimacy of Capital Punishment in America (which happens to be the last industrialized nation in the Western World to continue the practice).

Roger K. Coleman for years said he was innocent. (Steve Helber - AP)

Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has ordered DNA testing that could prove the guilt or innocence of a man executed in 1992, marking the first time a governor has asked for genetic testing of someone put to death.

The analysis, which began last month, comes in the case of Roger K. Coleman, a convicted killer whose proclamations of innocence -- including on the night of his execution -- raised concern nationwide over whether the wrong man died in the electric chair.

Warner's decision marks a dramatic turnaround in Virginia, where officials and judges have routinely refused to reexamine evidence in criminal cases after a defendant's conviction and have been steadfast in their denials of post-execution requests. Results of the Coleman tests, which are being conducted by scientists in a Toronto laboratory, could be announced before Warner (D) leaves office next week.

"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," Warner said yesterday in a statement. "I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence."

If Coleman were exonerated, it would be the first time in the United States that an executed man is cleared through genetic tests.

Ira Robbins, an American University criminal law professor, said that if Coleman was innocent, it would sway many Americans who are unsure about capital punishment to oppose it. But even if the tests confirm that Coleman was a killer, he said, it could spark a movement nationwide to test more old cases.

"It could be the biggest turning point in death penalty abolition," Robbins said. "Let's assume it comes back that he was proved innocent. Here is the case that the death penalty opponents have been looking for for a long time -- that we have executed an innocent person."

Update: BBC News reports that the test was Positive for guilt.

DNA tests have confirmed the guilt of a man who was executed in the US in 1992 whilst proclaiming his innocence.

Virginia state's outgoing governor, Mark Warner, had ordered the tests on Roger Coleman, who was put to death for raping and murdering his sister-in-law.

Anti-death penalty advocates had hoped this would be the first case of DNA testing exonerating an executed man.

The test results are a blow to those who supported Coleman and to the anti-death penalty movement in general.

A forensic laboratory in Toronto concluded there was virtually no doubt that the DNA recovered from the body of the victim, Wanda McCoy, belonged to Coleman.

Vyan