[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TENNESSEE

[Rick Halperin]

May 19


TENNESSEE:

Alley may not get chance for DNA-testing court fight


A death row inmate, spared from imminent execution earlier this week, may
not get a chance to fight his court battle for DNA testing.

The state's chief legal officer has asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to
set a June 1 execution date for Sedley Alley.

The surprise move on Thursday by state Attorney General Paul Summers could
short-circuit what many believed would be a period of weeks to years of
litigation that could keep Alley out of Tennessee's execution chamber.

Summers took that step to keep Alley from "parlaying a 'brief' executive
reprieve into an extended stay," according to the motion filed with the
Supreme Court.

Alley, 50, wanted the reprieve so that he could perform DNA tests that he
contends could exonerate him. Going to court and doing the tests would be
impossible with such a quick execution date, said his attorney, assistant
federal public defender Kelley Henry.

"It seems to me that it's in everyone's best interest to simply find out
the truth using the most modern technology we have available," Henry said.
"If they're so sure Mr. Alley did it, let's run the test."

Alley was sent to death row for the brutal 1985 rape and murder of Marine
Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins, 19, who was abducted while jogging at a naval
air station outside Memphis.

Alley was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 1 a.m. Wednesday before
Gov. Phil Bredesen stepped in Tuesday evening with a 15-day reprieve.

During that reprieve period, Alley could battle in Shelby County court for
his right to test evidence left at the murder scene, Bredesen said.

The Supreme Court has not had a chance to review the petition, said Sue
Allison, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the
Courts.

The attorney general is asking the high court to suspend its rules by
setting an execution date one day after the reprieve expires. Court rules
say the date cannot be any earlier than seven days after a reprieve.

"It's troubling," Henry said about the extraordinary measures Summers is
asking the court to take.

But Summers said Tennessee courts have already rejected Alley's previous
request for DNA testing and that "the reprieve should be confined to its
terms."

(source: Tennessean)