That's the title of Brandi Grissom's report on the case of Larry Swearingen in the Texas Tribune.
A week after condemned inmate Larry Swearingen, who is set to be executed Feb. 27, requested DNA testing that he hopes will prove his innocence in the 1998 murder of a Conroe college student, his attorneys and state prosecutors are bickering over how and when the analysis should occur.Prosecutors agreed to the testing — a major development following many years of opposition to it — and asked for the evidence to be submitted to a lab and analyzed in an expedited manner. Their hope, they said, is to get the testing done quickly enough to prevent the delay of Swearingen's execution date, the fourth one he has faced since his conviction in 2000.
"A representative of that laboratory has informed prosecutors that the testing could be completed on an expedited basis within about 10 business days," Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said in a press release. Ligon said he would consent to DNA testing but would oppose a stay of execution for Swearingen.
But Barry Scheck, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project, and one of Swearingen's lawyers, said that the nature of the evidence requires complicated testing that could involve several different types of analysis. That work, he said, will take more time than is left before Swearingen's execution date.
Ligon’s proposal to conduct expedited testing, Scheck said, would compromise Swearingen’s ability to get the reliable testing results that could prove his innocence.
Earlier coverage of Larry Swearingen's case begins at the link.
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