Judge orders DNA tests for inmate facing death

Associated Press

Savannah — A Georgia judge has ordered three DNA tests to be performed in the case of a death row inmate facing execution for the 1978 slaying of an elderly woman in Savannah.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf on Monday ordered the DNA of convicted killer Roy Blankenship to be compared with samples from a fingernail scraping, a pubic hair and body fluid recovered from the body of 78-year-old Sarah Mims Bowen.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles delayed Blankenship's execution a month ago after his attorney argued that DNA tests could show that another person attacked Bowen, who died from a heart attack after being raped.

Prosecutors say Blankenship confessed to killing Bowen two weeks after the slaying. Blankenship later said he broke into her apartment but didn't kill her.