DNA Tests Cast Doubt on Guilt of Man Executed in Texas

New DNA test results from the scene of a 1989 Texas murder have proven that Claude Jones was executed based on faulty evidence, darkening the shadow of doubt looming over the state's death machine.

Jones, pictured left during a death row visit with his mother, always maintained his innocence, and sought DNA testing on a critical hair from the crime scene before his execution. George W. Bush was the governor at the time, awaiting a decision from the Florida Supreme Court on whether a presidential recount in the 2000 election could go forward. Bush's senior counsel sent him a memo on Jones' case and somehow neglected to mention the potential for DNA testing to reveal his innocence. Bush allowed the execution to go forward.

The DNA tests were obtained as a result of a lawsuit filed by a group of legal and media organizations that believe the public has a right to know if an innocent man was executed. Jones' case now joins countless other examples of grave injustice in the Texas court system. Gov. Rick Perry, who allowed the notorious execution of Cameron Todd Willingham to go forward, recently said the exoneration of Anthony Graves after years on death row for a crime he didn't commit shows that the system is "working." What do these results show, governor?

Jones was convicted in 1990 based mainly on a hair collected from the crime scene and the testimony of a co-defendant who said Jones had admitted guilt to him. An analyst testified at Jones' trial that the hair at the crime scene "matched" a hair sample from Jones. DNA testing on that same hair has now proven that it belonged to the victim and not Jones. The co-defendant has also since recanted, further eroding the case against Jones. A timeline of the case is available on the Innocence Project website, along with key documents in the case and more.

Today's DNA results should bolster the growing call in Texas and nationwide for an end to the death penalty. State and federal leaders should at least call an immediate halt to executions while cases like Jones' (and those of living prisoners like Troy Davis and Hank Skinner to name just a couple) are examined more closely. The Change.org community has helped to build a strong movement against capital punishment in America and we're growing stronger by the day. Activist Gilles Dennizot posted a pledge calling on all of us to act to abolish the death penalty and petitions here on the site call for an end to death sentences in L.A. County, an end to the federal death penalty and for commutation for countless death row prisoners convicted on questionable evidence. Join the call. Your voice can help end this unequal, unjust and cruel punishment.

[Full disclosure: The Innocence Project, where I work when I'm not blogging here, was one of several groups that successfully sought DNA testing in Jones' case. Views expressed here are mine alone and don't represent any organization.]