http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006 ... 04-cp.html
GUILTY AFTER ALL.
DNA test confirms guilt of man executed in 1992
By MIKE OLIVEIRA
TORONTO (CP) - DNA tests conducted by a Canadian laboratory have confirmed that an American man executed in 1992 was guilty of raping and killing his sister-in-law more than two decades ago.
Right up until he was executed by electric chair in Virginia, Roger Coleman insisted he did not kill 19-year-old Wanda McCoy, his wife's sister. She was found stabbed and nearly beheaded in 1982 in her home in the coal mining town of Grundy, Va.
Coleman's lawyers argued he did not have time to commit the crime, but even a cover appearance on Time magazine and appeals by Pope John Paul couldn't get him off death row.
"The confirmation that Roger Coleman's DNA was present reaffirms the verdict and the sanction," Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said Thursday in a statement. "Again, my prayers are with the family of Wanda McCoy at this time."
Doubts about the validity of the original DNA testing saw the case go to Virginia's Supreme Court in 2002. But it wasn't until last month that Warner finally ordered that new DNA tests be conducted at Ontario's Centre of Forensic Sciences to find out once and for all if Coleman was innocent.
The tests were conducted at the Toronto lab at the request of Warner and the urging of Canadian lawyer James Lockyer of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. The lab was chosen because of its expertise in the field and its independence from the highly charged case.
On Wednesday, it was announced that tests of semen taken from the victim's body concluded that Coleman was guilty.
"The probability that a randomly selected individual unrelated to Roger Coleman would coincidentally share the observed DNA profile is estimated to be one in 19 million," the laboratory's report said.
Officials said no mistakes were made in the testing, and they were 100 per cent confident in the results.
"All of the evidence in my opinion provides extremely strong support for an assertion that Mr. Coleman was in fact the source of the DNA," said John Newman, head of the lab's biology section.
Initial DNA and blood tests in 1990 placed Coleman within the 0.2 per cent of the population who could have produced the semen at the crime scene.
But his lawyers said the expert they hired to conduct those initial DNA tests misinterpreted the results. They also argued that tests showed semen from two men was found inside McCoy, and that another man bragged about murdering her.
Lockyer said he was somewhat saddened by the news but was glad the truth came out.
"The DNA has proved the truth of the case, but it's still very unfortunate that a man was executed," Lockyer said.
"But the right person was convicted of the crime. That's what we're trying to do, find out the truth, and we certainly found out the truth in this case."
Coleman's case had been closely watched because no executed convict in the United States has ever been exonerated by scientific testing.
Death penalty opponents have argued for years that the risk of a grave and irreversible mistake by the criminal justice system is too great to allow capital punishment.
A former prosecutor in the case said the results, while not surprising, were a relief.
"Quite frankly, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders," said Tom Scott. "You can imagine, had it turned out differently, (the other prosecutor) and I certainly would have been scapegoats."
Prosecutors said a mountain of other evidence pointed to Coleman as the killer: There was no sign of forced entry at McCoy's house, leading investigators to believe she knew her attacker; Coleman was previously convicted of the attempted rape of a teacher and was charged with exposing himself to a librarian two months before the murder; and a pubic hair found on McCoy's body was consistent with Coleman's hair.
