Death-row case could be DNA first (in Pennsylvania)

[Pale Blue Dot]

Lawyers for a man who has spent half his life on Pennsylvania's death row said yesterday that new DNA tests "exonerated" him of a 1981 rape and murder, but Delaware County prosecutors said they would re-examine the evidence.

If the new DNA examination ultimately clears Nicholas James Yarris, it would be the first time a Pennsylvania death sentence was overturned by the evolving science, his attorneys said.

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There are 239 people on death row in Pennsylvania, the fourth-largest number in the United States, said Jeff Garis of Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty. Three people have been executed in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/6405725.htm