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| Florida Death Row Inmate Receives Stay |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/04/2002 |
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With the clock ticking toward his scheduled execution, convicted killer Amos King received a last-minute stay from Gov. Jeb Bush so DNA tests can be conducted on evidence from the 1977 murder. The stay came about 90 minutes before King's scheduled 6 p.m. Monday execution by lethal injection. King, 48, was convicted of raping and murdering Natalie Brady, 68, and setting the place ablaze after slipping away from a work-release prison. He was caught, in bloody clothing, trying to get back in. King had received stays of execution in February and July from the U.S. and Florida supreme courts. Earlier Monday afternoon, as King was being served his final meal, New York attorney Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project met with the governor's death penalty attorney to discuss the case. In a statement, Bush said Scheck ''informed my legal office of the existence of previously untested evidence and further DNA testing that could possibly exonerate Amos King. ''It is wholly appropriate that we delay the execution until we can determine that all potentially useful DNA testing has been completed,'' Bush said. In his filing with the Florida Supreme Court, Scheck asked for mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosone testing on three pubic hairs and scrapings from under Brady's fingernails. The test were not available 25 years ago when King was convicted. ''I had confidence that Gov. Bush would do this,'' Scheck said, adding that the test results are ''just the kind of thing you don't want to leave any chance to.'' The DNA tests are expected to take less than 30 days. The execution was rescheduled Jan. 8. Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty, was thrilled with the development. ''I think the governor wanted to do the right thing,'' he said. ''There is a question to this man's guilt. People want a system that is fair and correct.'' |
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