Time Magazine: Death and Innocence

Posted: May 21, 2010 10:15 am

San Jacinto County district attorney Bill Burnett, a former probation officer whose lawyer describes him as "a very capable prosecutor but a simple guy in his philosophy of things," says that under Texas law, only the defendant himself can ask for a new DNA test. "Once the defendant has been executed, I can do nothing more in the case," he said in a deposition. He plans to destroy the hair as soon as he's legally permitted to, closing the book on the only death sentence his small county has ever handed down. Both sides expect a ruling soon.

Jones was convicted of murdering liquor-store owner Allen Hilzendager after driving to the store with paroled murderer Danny Dixon.  Either Jones or Dixon walked into Hilzendager’s store and shot him three times.  The gun belonged to a friend of Dixon’s, Timothy Mark Jordan, who said that Jones confessed to him.  A single hair discovered on the store counter was examined under a microscope—a technique that hasn’t changed much in over 100 years. The crime lab expert said the hair “matched” Jones – a scientifically impossible conclusion. 

The proposed mitochondrial DNA testing could identify the hair with far more accuracy than the previous microscope test, and Time reports that the test results could close the case:

Mitochondrial DNA is exclusionary evidence, which means that if the hair is tested and Jones is not excluded, then he was the shooter. The same goes for Dixon. But if they are both excluded, then the hair belonged to someone who wasn't involved in the crime at all. That wouldn't mean Jones didn't do it, but it would still be troubling to know that the only piece of physical evidence that sent a man to his death was actually completely unrelated to the crime.

Read the full article here.

See the timeline of events in Jones’ case here.

Read the Innocence Project’s press release on seeking DNA testing in Jones’ case.