AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A single strand of hair used to send a Texan to his death 10 years ago was not his after all, DNA tests show.
Claude Jones was executed Dec. 7, 2000, for killing an East Texas liquor store owner in 1989. He maintained his innocence to the end.
The key to his murder conviction was one piece of evidence from the scene -- a strand of hair prosecutors said belonged to him. But DNA tests done this week at the request of The Texas Observer and the Innocence Project show the hair belonged to the victim, Allen Hilzendager.
Because the DNA testing doesn't implicate another killer, the results don't prove Jones's innocence, but the hair was the only evidence placing him at the scene.
The day before his execution, Jones pleaded for a stay so the hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by Gov. George W. Bush.
But documents show attorneys in Bush's office failed to tell him the DNA evidence might clear Jones. He had halted another execution for DNA testing.
UPI
