Darrell Grayson executed in Alabama without a DNA test
07.27.07 By Innocence Staff
The state of Alabama executed Darrell Grayson by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday night, despite pleas from several fronts for DNA testing in the case that could have shown Grayson’s innocence or confirmed his guilt. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley decided not to delay the execution because “no new evidence has come to light that would warrant a reprieve or a commutation,” he said in a prepared statement.
In recent years Grayson claimed he had no memory of the crime, and unsuccessfully appealed to the court to order DNA testing that wasn’t available in 1981. The Innocence Project and other activists said a DNA test could prove conclusively whether Grayson raped Orr. If a test found DNA belonging to a third party, but not to Grayson or Kennedy, the case against Grayson would be undermined, they said.
In the days before the execution the Innocence Project, the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other groups called on Riley to issue a stay so the tests could be conducted.
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. (Birmingham News, 07/27/07)
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