Recent DNA tests raise seri­ous doubts about the con­vic­tion of a man exe­cut­ed in Texas in 2000. The tests revealed that a strand of hair found at the scene of a liquor-store shoot­ing did not belong to Claude Jones, as was orig­i­nal­ly implied by the pros­e­cu­tion. Instead, the hair belonged to the vic­tim. Jones was exe­cut­ed for the mur­der of the store’s own­er. The strand of hair was the only piece of phys­i­cal evi­dence that placed Jones at the scene of the crime, and this rev­e­la­tion rais­es the ques­tion of whether Texas exe­cut­ed the wrong per­son for the mur­der. Before his exe­cu­tion in 2000, Jones’s lawyers filed peti­tions for a stay with both a dis­trict court and with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, request­ing that the strand of hair be sub­mit­ted for DNA test­ing. The nec­es­sary DNA tech­nol­o­gy had not been devel­oped at the time the crime in 1989, but was avail­able in 2000. Both courts, along with then-Governor George W. Bush, denied Jones a stay of exe­cu­tion. Apparently, Gov. Bush was not even informed by his clemen­cy advi­sors about the request for the DNA test. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, said ​“The DNA results prove that tes­ti­mo­ny about the hair sam­ple on which this entire case rests was just wrong. Unreliable foren­sic sci­ence and a com­plete­ly inad­e­quate post-con­vic­tion review process cost Claude Jones his life.”

In 2007, the Innocence Project, along with the Texas Observer, the Innocence Project of Texas and the Texas Innocence Network filed a law­suit to obtain the hair for DNA test­ing. This year, Judge Paul Murphy ruled in favor of the Observer and the inno­cence groups and ordered pros­e­cu­tors to turn over the evi­dence for DNA test­ing. Duane Jones, Claude Jones’s son, said, ​“Knowing that these DNA results sup­port his inno­cence means so much to me, my son in the mil­i­tary and the rest of my fam­i­ly. I hope these results will serve as a wake­up call to every­one that seri­ous prob­lems exist in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem that must be fixed if our soci­ety is to con­tin­ue using the death penal­ty.” Jones was one of the last inmates exe­cut­ed before Gov. Bush left office to become President.

(D. Mann, ​“Texas Observer Exclusive: DNA Tests Undermine Evidence in Texas Execution,” Texas Observer, November 11, 2010). See Innocence and Arbitrariness.

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