DNA Ties Man Executed in '92 to the Murder He Denied
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/national/13dna.html

January 13, 2006
DNA Ties Man Executed in '92 to the Murder He Denied
By JAMES DAO

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - Thirteen years after Roger K. Coleman went to the electric chair declaring, "An innocent man is being murdered tonight," a new DNA test has found that he was almost certainly the source of genetic material found in the body of his murdered sister-in-law, Virginia officials announced on Thursday.

The finding was a stunning blow to a lay minister who for nearly 18 years argued for Mr. Coleman's innocence, and it vindicated the prosecutors who won Mr. Coleman's conviction in 1982 and the governor, L. Douglas Wilder, who allowed his execution to proceed 10 years later.

"The confirmation that Roger Coleman's DNA was present reaffirms the verdict and the sanction," said Gov. Mark Warner, who ordered the test last week. It was the first time that a governor had ordered a DNA test involving an executed person.

The testing was closely watched across the nation because of the belief that it would provide powerful momentum to death penalty abolitionists if it were to prove that an innocent man had been put to death.

Yet even after Thursday's announcement, critics of capital punishment said Mr. Warner's decision set an important precedent that might encourage other governors, judges and prosecutors to allow postexecution DNA analysis in disputed capital punishment cases.

"The real issue is not whether one man was in fact guilty or innocent, it's rather that he set the example for what the other 49 governors should do on the hundreds of cases where DNA material still exists from people who have been executed," said Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, a legal clinic that has helped exonerate 172 inmates, often through DNA tests.

Supporters of the death penalty said the test was also significant because it proved that the criminal justice system had worked, and they predicted that the confirmation of Mr. Coleman's guilt would undermine future efforts to exonerate death row inmates.

The case gained international attention, with Time magazine putting Mr. Coleman on its cover and Pope John Paul II urging that his execution be stayed. But Governor Wilder, a Democrat, rejected a clemency petition, and Mr. Coleman died proclaiming his innocence.

-Rudey
--Rest of article seen through link

I had seen this case on Dateline, about three years ago (?), and at the time, while the evidence pointed so clearly to Roger Coleman, wondered about the possibility of the DNA proving his innocence.

I can't say that I'm happy that he was executed, but I will say that I'm terribly glad that an innocent man wasn't executed!

Still looking for the first innocent person riding "ole sparky", I guess.

The death penalty would really be a deterrent if the execution was scheduled 90 days after the guilty verdict. Unlimited appeals for 89 days.

Wasn't Tookie on death row for 25+ years?

It was proved once again and is finally put to bed.

He did it and that is it.

No one told Him or others to take lives of innocent people.

Someone who commits a heinous crime should be punished by any measures that are necessary.

Remember, living in this Country gives a lot of leway on crimes and time.

Actually, I think that's about the national average at this point.

They're still looking for the first innocent person to be executed?

And who pays for this?:mad:

I did a research study for a Class in College and Hell, they ate better than I did in College. I was told to clean up My Plate, Damn, I wanted to go back and get more!:)

It is much harder today with the technology to find someone truely Innocent of a crime than back then!

It's odd that it makes the news that someone was punished for a crime he committed, but, hey, whatever. Just so he's punished.

didn't his attorney's say there were two men's semen samples in the body?

is there any validity to that?