Supreme Court stops execution for DNA test

The North Carolina Supreme Court today stayed the execution of a condemned inmate to allow for additional DNA testing that he contended would prove his innocence.

Jerry Wayne Conner, 40, was scheduled for execution at 2am (7am Irish Time) on Friday for the 1990 shotgun killings of store clerk Minh Rogers and her 16-year-old daughter, Linda, who was raped.

Defence lawyers asked for a new DNA test, contending the procedures available today were better than DNA testing at the time of trial.

The defence also has pointed to another man seen around the store the night of the slayings as a possible suspect.

Defence lawyers had refused to attend a clemency meeting with Governor Mike Easley unless he ordered a new test, something he didn’t do while waiting for the court to make its decision.

Defence lawyers have argued that Conner was intimidated by officers and that police doubted some of what he said.