A federal appeals court has ruled that an Arkansas inmate on death row can sue the state in his effort to have new tests run on DNA evidence that could clear him.
The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, Missouri, did not address the merits of Stacey Eugene Johnson’s case, but limited its review “to the threshold issues of whether Johnson has standing and whether the defendants are immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment.”
“The defendants here are not immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment because Johnson seeks prospective declaratory and injunctive relief and has alleged a sufficient connection between the defendants and Act 1780’s enforcement,” the appellate panel said in Monday’s ruling. Act 1780 is a law that allows for post-conviction DNA testing.
MISSOURI GOV. MIKE PARSON DECLINES CLEMENCY FOR DEATH ROW INMATE WHO KILLED 2 JAIL GUARDS
Johnson, 53, came within a day of being executed in 2017 for the 1993 murder of Carol Heath in De Queen, Arkansas.
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of death row inmate Stacey Eugene Johnson, who has requested that investigators test new DNA evidence that may clear him of a 1993 De Queen, Arkansas murder.
In 2019, after a lower court denied Johnson’s request, the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling in a 5-2 decision, clearing the way for Johnson’s execution.
Shortly before his scheduled execution date, Johnson, assisted by the Innocence Project, filed a petition in state court under Arkansas’ post-conviction DNA testing statute, known as Act 1780, seeking DNA testing on 26 pieces of physical evidence related to Heath’s murder, including swabs taken from Heath’s body and hairs found at the crime scene that were never tested.
ALABAMA GOVERNOR SETS JULY DATE FOR LETHAL INJECTION FOLLOWING TROUBLED PAST EXECUTIONS
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Last year, after U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the defendants appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed Baker’s ruling Monday.