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| Inmate wants new DNA tests |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/01/2006 |
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LOUISVILLE, KY - Brian Keith Moore hopes a 27-year-old pair of pants will spare his life. Moore, awaiting execution for a 1979 slaying, wants DNA testing on the garment, as well as a pair of shoes, hoping it will show that it was another man, not him, who kidnapped and killed Virgil Harris in a wooded area of Jefferson County. Moore, 49, is the first Kentucky Death Row inmate to use a state law to seek testing on evidence stemming from a crime predating DNA tests. Jefferson County Judge James Shake said he would rule soon on the request. Moore's attorney, assistant public advocate David Barron, said DNA testing could force the state to reevaluate the case against his client. "We think the results would make the difference in his case," Barron said. Attorney General Greg Stumbo has asked Gov. Ernie Fletcher to set an execution date for Moore. Vicki Glass, a spokeswoman for Stumbo, said there's no question about Moore's guilt. "This is another delay tactic," Glass said. Kentucky's law - which is similar to statutes in 39 other states - allows Death Row inmates to request DNA testing on evidence so long as there haven't been previous tests and that they can convince a judge that the evidence would have affected the outcome of their trial. Similar tests have resulted in 14 people around the country being freed from death row, most recently Ryan Matthews, who was released in 2004 while awaiting execution in Louisiana for the April 1997 killing of store owner Tommy Vanhoose. DNA on a ski mask pointed to another man already in prison serving a 20-year sentence on an unrelated homicide. Barron wants to test the clothes Harris was wearing when he was kidnapped from a grocery store parking lot and killed in 1979, as well as pants and shoes police said Moore was wearing at the time and several items taken from Harris. "If no DNA shows up from our client ... it casts serious doubt on his conviction," Barron said. "If Moore wore these pants, his DNA will be on them." If the DNA on the clothes doesn't match Moore, the rest of the evidence against him is weak and suspect, Barron said. The pants in question don't - and have never - fit Moore, who weighs about 350 pounds, and nearly all the evidence can also be tied to an alternate suspect, who has died since the murder, Barron said. "It really, really is a mess," Barron said. Prosecutors said the evidence against Moore is abundant, including comments he made to fellow inmates, a corrections officer and physical evidence at the scene, including papers belonging to Harris found in the apartment where Moore was staying and gunshot residue on Moore's hand. Assistant Attorney General David Smith called Moore's bid for DNA testing an "eleventh hour request" meant simply to delay his execution. "DNA testing has been used for many years," Smith wrote in a response to Moore's request. "It was not invented just yesterday." If Shake grants the DNA testing, the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab or a lab it chooses would conduct the analysis. Barron also asked Shake to allow Moore to pay for the testing on his own if the judge turns down his request to have the state conduct the analysis. "If DNA from someone else turns up on these items, substantial doubt would exist that Moore committed the murder," Barron said. |
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