Thursday, May 23, 2013
   
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Prosecutors Question Value Of DNA Testing In Old Case

dnaMontgomery County prosecutors have asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reconsider its decision granting a convicted killer’s request for DNA tests on evidence from a crime committed 25 years ago. 53-year-old Robert Conway was found guilty of third degree murder in the 1986 stabbing death of Norristown shopkeeper Michele Capitano.  She was 35 at the time and he was 29.  She worked at the former Wooley’s Surgical Supply store on DeKalb Street.  Court documents say she was stabbed 78 times in the store’s bathroom.  His lawyers want the testing done on several items, including bloody paper towels that the killer presumably used to wash his hands, the victim’s clothing, and fingernail clippings from her hands.  They say the tests could prove his innocence, but prosecutors say they would prove nothing because the evidence is contaminated.  They say numerous people handled the evidence at a time when DNA testing was not used in criminal trials.  It was introduced years later.  Conway has always maintained that the victim was already dead when he arrived at the store.

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