Judge denies DNA test for 'stocking strangler'

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Muscogee County judge on Wednesday declined to halt the pending execution of the so-called Columbus stocking strangler to allow DNA testing of evidence from four of the seven rapes Carlton Gary was accused of committing.

This means Carlton Gary's execution remains set for Dec. 16. His lawyer, Jack Martin, said he would appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. In his ruling, Superior Court Judge Robert Johnston found that the motion for DNA testing was filed "for the purposes of delay" and that, after reviewing the evidence, there is not a reasonable probability the testing, had it been available, would have led to Gary's acquittal at trial.

Gary was sentenced to death in 1986 for raping three elderly women and strangling them with their stockings. He was accused of, but not convicted of, sexually assaulting four other women.