May 20


TENNESSEE:


A federal court has halted a state execution set for June 3, saying it
needs a ruling from a federal appeals court in the case of another
Tennessee death row inmate.

Sedley Alley, 48, who was to be executed by lethal injection, received the
stay from the U.S. District Court in Memphis late Wednesday.

The court said it needed guidance from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, which is hearing an appeal from Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman on whether
new evidence can be introduced in federal court after state appeals have
been exhausted.

Alley was sentenced to die in the murder of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl.
Suzanne M. Collins at the Millington Naval Air Station outside Memphis in
1985. Collins was kidnapped while jogging, beaten, stabbed in the head
with a screwdriver and sexually assaulted with a tree limb.

Alley's state lawyer, Don Dawson, filed motions earlier this week in state
court hoping to test DNA evidence taken from the crime scene 19 years ago
under the Post-Conviction DNA Analysis Act of 2001.

A state court denied Alley's initial request for state-funded DNA testing
of 11 samples of physical evidence, saying Alley hadn't shown "reasonable
probability" that he wouldn't have been prosecuted or convicted if the
tests were in his favor.

Abdur'Rahman received a stay from the 6th Circuit last year after his
lawyers argued that prosecutors acted improperly during his murder trial
by not turning over evidence, making misleading statements and improperly
preparing witnesses.

(source: The Tennessean)

I dont understand how a court could refuse DNA testing "even if it was in his favour" If it was in his favour, the ruling would of been different for sure.

I feel like Im on a political role today, I am so sick of hearing DAs and court excuses, especially when it comes to them being executed.

Its just another reason why the death penalty is so wrong.