newstopics51

Amnesty International

For what is thought to be the first time in U.S. legal history, DNA testing is being conducted that has the potential to exonerate a man who has already been executed. Ellis Wayne Felker, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Evelyn Joy Ludlum, maintained his claim of innocence until his execution on November 14, 1996. New tests are now being performed on DNA evidence that was not tested prior to his execution. Any results indicating Felker’s innocence will prove vital to the national debate over the integrity and morality of the death penalty.

The evidence used against Felker in his trial was largely circumstantial. The most critical piece of evidence in support of the prosecution’s case was a hair specimen found on Ludlum’s clothing. The analysis of this specimen was conducted through a highly subjective procedure in which the technician looked for similarities to Felkner’s hair. Weeks before Felker’s execution, his lawyers exercised the Georgia Open Records Act to gain access to the Prosecution’s files on the case. Examination of the files revealed new evidence, including a police rape evidence kit, scrapings from beneath Ludlum’s fingernails, and the clothing worn by Ludlum at the time she was murdered. This evidence however, was never subjected to DNA testing.

87 people under threat of death in the US have been proved wrongfully convicted. Thus far, DNA testing has absolved 8 of those people. In January, Illinois Governor Ryan imposed a moratorium on all executions in his state while officials investigate reforms to the system. At least five other states are currently re-evaluating their capital punishment laws.

Until this case, post-conviction DNA testing has been restricted to the period before execution. In early June, The Boston Globe approached Houston County (central-Georgia) Superior Court Judge, L.A. McConnell, asking him to allow the DNA testing under the Georgia Open Records Act. CBS and two Georgia newspapers, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Macon Telegraph, also requested to join the testing. McConnell ascertained that the evidence was a public “record”, and was therefore available for testing.

DNA testing may minimize the probability of executing the innocent. The persistence by the United States in the use of the death penalty remains a gross miscarriage of justice. Amnesty International is unconditionally opposed to the death penalty, considering it as a violation of the most fundamental of human rights.