DNA Testing Proves Executed Va.

Prisoner's Guilt
Death penalty opponents said new DNA tests confirming the guilt of a murderer who was put to
death in Virginia while still proclaiming his innocence will do nothing to end their fight to abolish
capital punishment.
The test results, announced Thursday by Gov. Mark R. Warner, prove Roger Keith Coleman was
guilty of the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law, putting an end to a debate over his guilt that
has raged since he was executed in 1992.
Death penalty opponents have argued for years that the risk of a grave and irreversible mistake by
the criminal justice system is too great to allow capital punishment. A finding of innocence in the
Coleman case would have been explosive news and almost certainly would have had a powerful
effect on the public's attitude toward the death penalty. But despite the finding of guilt, death
penalty opponents insist the results do not mean capital punishment is infallible.
"Obviously, one case does not in any way reflect on the correctness of the other 1,000 executions
we've had in the last 30 years," said Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project. "Other
governors should take their lead from Governor Warner and do post-execution testing in their cases,
because ... there's no reason not to it's all about getting to the truth."
Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the gruesome murder of 19-year-old
Wanda McCoy, who was found raped, stabbed and nearly beheaded in her home in the coal mining
town of Grundy.
The report from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto concluded there was almost no
conceivable doubt that Coleman was the source of the sperm found in the victim.
"The probability that a randomly selected individual unrelated to Roger Coleman would
coincidentally share the observed DNA profile is estimated to be 1 in 19 million," the report said.
A former prosecutor in the case said the results, while not surprising, were a relief.
"Quite frankly, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders," Grundy
attorney Tom Scott said. "You can imagine, had it turned out differently, (the other prosecutor) and I
certainly would have been scapegoats."
Initial DNA and blood tests in 1990 placed Coleman within the 0.2 percent of the population who
could have produced the semen at the crime scene. But his lawyers said the expert they hired to
conduct those initial DNA tests misinterpreted the results.
The governor agreed to a new round of more sophisticated DNA tests in one of his last official acts.
Warner, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for president in 2008, leaves
office on Saturday.
Coleman's case drew international attention as the well-spoken inmate pleaded his case on talk
shows and in magazines and newspapers. Time magazine featured the coal miner on its cover. Pope
John Paul II tried to block the execution. Then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's office was flooded with
thousands of calls and letters of protest from around the world.

Coleman's attorneys argued that he did not have time to commit the crime, that tests showed semen
from two men was found inside McCoy and that another man bragged about murdering her.
"An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight," the 33-year-old said moments before he was
electrocuted. "When my innocence is proven, I hope America will realize the injustice of the death
penalty as all other civilized countries have."
One criminal law expert said the results in the Coleman case should have little impact on the
nation's death penalty debate.
"I don't know that the particular result here really matters," said University of Virginia criminal law
professor Richard Bonnie. "Of course there's going to be cases in which people have claimed to be
innocent and that DNA testing ... will tend to disprove that that should be expected. But I think we
also know that there are going to be cases where the claim of innocence is supported."
Whatever the potential outcome, making DNA testing readily available to all death row inmates
should be of vital concern, said Earl Washington Jr., who came within nine days of being executed
before being pardoned in 2000 thanks to DNA testing.
"DNA works two different ways find you guilty, find you innocent. Today, the DNA on Roger Coleman
found him guilty," said Washington, who befriended Coleman while they were on death row
together. "I would rather see everyone on death row do DNA (testing) if possible. One day they
might end up executing an innocent person."

Death penalty proponents welcomed the

results. "Stop the presses it turns out that
rapists and killers are also liars," Michael
Paranzino, president of a group called
Throw Away the Key, said in a statement.
Four newspapers and Centurion Ministries,
a New Jersey organization that
investigated Coleman's case and became
convinced of his innocence, sought a court
order to have the evidence retested. The
Virginia Supreme Court declined to order
the testing in 2002, so Centurion Ministries
asked Warner to intervene.
James McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, had been fighting to prove Coleman's
innocence since 1988. The two shared Coleman's final meal together cold slices of pizza just a few
hours before Coleman was executed.
"I had always believed in Roger's complete innocence. In my view, he had no motive, means, or
opportunity to do this crime. I now know that I was wrong. Indeed, this is a bitter pill to swallow,"
said McCloskey, adding he felt betrayed by Coleman. "Even though the results are far different than
I expected, and even though this particular truth feels like a kick in the stomach, I do not regret that
this effort has at last brought finality to all who have had an interest in this matter."

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