Inmate files for DNA testing

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NASHVILLE — A Shelby County man convicted and sentenced to death for killing his wife has filed a motion for DNA testing on evidence he believes would prove his innocence.

Donnie Johnson, 53, was convicted in 1985 of suffocating his 30-year-old wife, Connie, on Dec. 8, 1984, by stuffing a plastic garbage bag into her mouth.

In a petition filed Wednesday in Shelby County Criminal Court, Johnson’s attorneys ask for testing of the trash bag to determine if there is evidence left by the man Johnson has repeatedly claimed is guilty of the murder — Ronnie McCoy.

Johnson was convicted after McCoy, a work-release inmate, testified that he left Johnson and his wife alone for about 15 minutes at a camping center that Johnson managed.

McCoy said he came back, found her dead and helped Johnson dispose of her body by leaving it in her van at the Mall of Memphis, where it was found the next day.

Johnson has maintained his innocence and accuses McCoy of robbing and killing his wife.

The federal public defender’s office representing Johnson also filed a motion with the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to delay setting an execution date pending remaining federal appeals and the new request for DNA testing.

In another Shelby County capital murder case, public defenders for death row inmate Sedley Alley asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to dismiss a request from state Attorney General Paul Summers to set an execution date.

Alley was granted a 15-day reprieve by Gov. Phil Bredesen to seek DNA testing on evidence in his conviction for a 1985 rape and murder from the Shelby County Criminal Court.

A judge denied Alley’s request for the testing on Tuesday, ruling that Alley’s attorneys failed to establish that the testing would prove Alley’s evidence or that the evidence remains in good enough condition for accurate testing.