Governor Mark Warner of Virginia announced that DNA tests on evi­dence from the case of Roger Keith Coleman, who was exe­cut­ed in 1992, revealed that he was almost cer­tain­ly the source of genet­ic mate­r­i­al found in the body of the vic­tim, Wanda McCoy. The Governor said that this test ​“re-affirms the ver­dict and sanc­tion” in this case.

Peter Neufeld, co-direc­tor of the Innocence Project, praised the gov­er­nor’s deci­sion to allow the test­ing and not­ed that, ​“The real issue is not whether one man was in fact guilty or inno­cent, it’s rather that he set the exam­ple of what the oth­er 49 gov­er­nors should do” in oth­er cas­es where DNA mate­r­i­al still exists from peo­ple who have been executed.

(N.Y. Times, Jan. 13, 2006). For infor­ma­tion about the issue of inno­cence, click here.

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