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<ul class="summary-list"><li>New <keyword id="627758" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="DNA-evidence">DNA evidence</keyword> on a murder weapon points to a different man than the one who was executed for the <keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime">crime</keyword>, lawyers say.</li><li><keyword id="3093455" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ledell-Lee">Ledell Lee</keyword>, an Arkansas man, was executed in 2017 for bludgeoning a young woman to death.</li><li>But Lee's sister and lawyers have continued to try to exonerate him even after his death.</li></ul>Ledell Lee, an Arkansas man convicted of murder and executed in 2017, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-39584497">maintained his innocence</a> for more than two decades on death row. Now, lawyers with the <keyword id="842973" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Innocence-Project">Innocence Project</keyword> and the American Civil Liberties Union say new DNA evidence found on a decades-old murder weapon, that had never previously been tested, points to a different man.The new evidence was found after Lee's family and lawyers <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/2020-01-23_complaint.pdf">sued</a> the city of Jacksonville, Arkansas, last year, seeking to have old evidence tested and analyzed. Patricia Young, Lee's sister, has spent years trying to exonerate her brother and has continued her fight even after Lee was executed by <keyword id="442989" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="lethal-injection">lethal injection</keyword> in April 2017. The development marks a rare attempt to use DNA evidence to prove a person's innocence after their death.The DNA results, which were obtained nearly three decades after prosecutors say Lee used a club to bludgeon Debra Reese to death, "proved to be incomplete and partial," a lawyer with the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/">Innocence Project</a> said Tuesday. But the nonprofit, which works to exonerate those they believe have been wrongfully convicted, said the discovery was "notable" and allowed for consideration of new DNA profiles that had not been available during Lee's trial or post-conviction appeals. The new testing found DNA evidence from an unknown man on the club's bloody handle and both samples seem to belong to the same man, who was not Lee, lawyers said. The suspect's profile was uploaded to the FBI's national criminal database but did not match any profiles of people who have been previously convicted or arrested in connection to violent crimes. "However, the DNA profile will now remain in the database and will be automatically compared to all new profiles from convicted persons, arrestees or unsolved crimes that are entered in the future," lawyers and Young said in a joint statement.The prosecution's case relied heavily on eyewitness testimony and both the Innocence Project and ACLU had previously pressed for more DNA testing following Lee's conviction. A request for new analysis on the eve of Lee's <keyword id="6400667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="execution">execution</keyword> was also denied. A federal judge said he had "simply delayed too long,' according to Young's lawsuit. Many criticized the state of Arkansas for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-arkansas-executes-inmate-after-us-supreme-court-gives-go-ahead-2017-4">rushing Lee's execution</a> and several others during an 11-day period in 2017 as the state's supply of lethal injection drugs was on the verge of expiring. In a late-night 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court gave Arkansas the go-ahead to execute Lee.Trump-appointee Neil Gorsuch cast the deciding vote with his <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/04/gorsuch-votes-to-let-arkansas-execute-ledell-lee.html">first recorded vote</a> as a justice on the high court. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson defended Lee's execution during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xelhtdViODE">press conference</a> Tuesday after the discovery of the new DNA, saying it had been his "duty to carry out the law." Leslie Rutledge, the state's attorney general also defended the execution in a statement, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/us/ledell-lee-dna-testing-arkansas.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur=cur">according to The New York Times.</a>"The courts consistently rejected Ledell Lee's frivolous claims because the evidence demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt that he murdered Debra Reese by beating her to death inside her home with a tire thumper," she reportedly said. "I am prayerful that Debra's family has had closure following his lawful execution in 2017."Young's lawsuit also pushed the city to, for the first time, compare fingerprints found at the crime scene to a national fingerprint database. Lee's fingerprints did not match any found at the scene. Lawyers fighting on behalf of Lee have also claimed witnesses were given a "shockingly" biased photo lineup, <a href="http://washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/05/04/ledell-lee-dna-execution/">according to The Washington Post</a>, and that Lee's appellate attorney had been drunk and unprepared at hearings.

4 years after a man's rushed execution, new tests find someone else's DNA on the murder weapon

Thomson ReutersFILE PHOTO - Handout photos of inmates scheduled to be executed by lethal injection beginning April 17 in ArkansasThe 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed Ledell Lee's execution until 8:15 p.m. CT Thursday as it reviews his appeal. The order came down after the Arkansas Supreme Court allowed the state to use a drug that is part of its chemical mix for lethal injections, hours before the state planned its first execution in 12 years.The decision from the Arkansas Supreme Court came about three hours before the state planned to execute convicted murderer Ledell Lee at 7 p.m. local time (0000 GMT) at its Cummins Unit in Grady, which houses the state's death chamber.The southeastern state had planned to execute eight inmates in 11 days, the most of any state in as short a period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.Courts have halted four of those executions. The state's plan prompted an unprecedented flurry of legal filings and raised questions about U.S. death chamber protocols and lethal injection drug mixes. Back-to-back executions set for Monday were indefinitely halted.It was unclear if Lee's execution would go ahead on Thursday night. The U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on three petitions from Arkansas death row inmates to halt the proceedings. Lee's lawyer also made an emergency filing with a U.S. court in Little Rock about an hour before his scheduled execution.The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday denied Lee's request to halt his execution. Lee was convicted and sentenced to death for beating Debra Reese to death with a tire iron in 1993.In ruling on the state's lethal injection drug, the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with the state that it did nothing illegal in acquiring the muscle relaxant vecuronium bromide, one of three drugs used in its lethal injections, and lifted an order by a state circuit judge on Wednesday that blocked its use.U.S. pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc accused the state of obtaining the drug under false pretences.Arkansas had also planned to execute convicted murderer Stacey Johnson on Thursday. But the Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a halt to Johnson's execution after he requested DNA testing he said could prove his innocence.The attorney general's office said on Thursday it would not appeal the decision, meaning his planned execution was off. Johnson was convicted of the 1993 murder and sexual assault of Carol Heath.Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson set the execution schedule because another of the three drugs used in Arkansas executions, the sedative midazolam, expires at month's end. The state's protocol calls for use of midazolam to render the inmate unconscious, vecuronium bromide to stop breathing and a third chemical that causes cardiac arrest.(Reporting by Steve Barnes in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; writing by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman) <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-us-could-prevent-nuclear-strike-north-korea-cyber-attack-hacking-2017-4">How the US could prevent a North Korean nuclear strike - according to a former Marine and cyberwarfare expert</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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4 years after a man's rushed execution, new tests find someone else's DNA on the murder weapon

Erin Snodgrass

Court clears the way for Arkansas to hold first execution in 12 years

Reuters,Associated Press

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