Post by thinkinkmesa on Mar 13, 2009 13:00:33 GMT -5
AUDIO Hartman Requests More DNA Testing
You will have to visit the link below to actually hear the audio portion.
www.akronnewsnow.com/news/itemdetail.asp?ID=30559§ion=news&subsection=localnews
AUDIO Hartman Requests More DNA Testing
3/12/2009 10:53:49 AM | Chris Keppler
Attorneys for the Akron man slated for execution April 7th say DNA testing could prove his innocence.
Innocence is something Brett Hartman, 34, has maintained all along. His first Attorney Michael Benza doesn't know if DNA testing will prove anything, but thinks it needs to be determined before his client is led to Ohio's death chamber.
At issue are two items: a hair and a condom. Benza says both items were sent to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation but they were never tested.
"If it comes back as him, it pushes back the execution date a period of time but we still get to the point of executing him," said Benza. "If that's the right outcome, then that's the right outcome."
LISTEN to Michael Benza explain
Hartman is hoping that either or both of the items will link someone other than him to the scene of the brutal attack. Winda Snipes, 46, was stabbed 138 times and her hands were removed. The hands were never found.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh told the Ohio Parole Board last month that it's typical for items entered into evidence to remain untested. She says BCI tends to conduct testing on the evidence that carries the best chance of garnering reliable DNA results, so it's not unreasonable that they tested seminal fluid and not a hair.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor says she received a letter Wednesday that formally asks that the office turn over the items for testing at the expense of the Federal Public Defender's office. Walsh had not yet acted on the request.
Benza says he'll ask a federal court to compel the prosecutor's cooperation if she doesn't do it on her own.
Comment section below this article, viewable by visiting the link provided.
You will have to visit the link below to actually hear the audio portion.
www.akronnewsnow.com/news/itemdetail.asp?ID=30559§ion=news&subsection=localnews
AUDIO Hartman Requests More DNA Testing
3/12/2009 10:53:49 AM | Chris Keppler
Attorneys for the Akron man slated for execution April 7th say DNA testing could prove his innocence.
Innocence is something Brett Hartman, 34, has maintained all along. His first Attorney Michael Benza doesn't know if DNA testing will prove anything, but thinks it needs to be determined before his client is led to Ohio's death chamber.
At issue are two items: a hair and a condom. Benza says both items were sent to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation but they were never tested.
"If it comes back as him, it pushes back the execution date a period of time but we still get to the point of executing him," said Benza. "If that's the right outcome, then that's the right outcome."
LISTEN to Michael Benza explain
Hartman is hoping that either or both of the items will link someone other than him to the scene of the brutal attack. Winda Snipes, 46, was stabbed 138 times and her hands were removed. The hands were never found.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh told the Ohio Parole Board last month that it's typical for items entered into evidence to remain untested. She says BCI tends to conduct testing on the evidence that carries the best chance of garnering reliable DNA results, so it's not unreasonable that they tested seminal fluid and not a hair.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor says she received a letter Wednesday that formally asks that the office turn over the items for testing at the expense of the Federal Public Defender's office. Walsh had not yet acted on the request.
Benza says he'll ask a federal court to compel the prosecutor's cooperation if she doesn't do it on her own.
Comment section below this article, viewable by visiting the link provided.