Alabama editorial: DNA testing should be conducted in Tommy Arthur’s case

Alabama should reconsider its death penalty while executions in the state – and nationwide – are on hold pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on lethal injections, a major Alabama newspaper said today. An editorial in today’s Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News calls for DNA testing for death row inmate Tommy Arthur and goes on to consider waning national support of capital punishment, the cost of the practice and the risk of executing an innocent person.

Certainly some people were wrongly put to death before DNA testing became available in the mid-1980s. In all likelihood, others on death row now would be exonerated if DNA testing could prove guilt or innocence in their cases….

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to reconsider DNA testing for Tommy Douglas Arthur, who waits on death row in Alabama for a 1982 murder in Muscle Shoals. The court found that Arthur missed a deadline in filing his appeal. His execution is on hold while the court considers lethal injection challenges. Amazingly, this state doesn't require DNA testing for murder defendants, even though the tests may provide the most reliable way to determine guilt or innocence.

Read the full article here

. (Tuscaloosa News, 12/19/07)

The Innocence Project has called for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to grant DNA testing in Arthur’s case, and you can get involved today – it just takes 30 seconds to send an email to Riley.

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