DNA tests confirm executed man's guilt

Prosecutors said a mountain of other evidence pointed to Coleman as the killer: There was no sign of forced entry at McCoy’s house, leading investigators to believe she knew her attacker; Coleman was previously convicted of the attempted rape of a teacher and was charged with exposing himself to a librarian two months before the murder; a pubic hair found on McCoy’s body was consistent with Coleman’s hair; and the original DNA tests placed him within a fraction of the population who could have left semen at the scene.

Four newspapers and Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey organization that investigated Coleman’s case and became convinced of his innocence, sought a court order to have the evidence retested. The Virginia Supreme Court declined to order the testing in 2002, so Centurion Ministries asked Warner to intervene.

James McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, had been fighting to prove Coleman’s innocence since 1988. The two shared Coleman’s final meal together — cold slices of pizza — just a few hours before Coleman was executed.

“I now know that I was wrong. Indeed, this is a bitter pill to swallow,” McCloskey said in a statement, describing Thursday’s findings as “a kick in the stomach.”

Death penalty opponents praised Warner’s decision to order the testing but warned that Coleman’s case does not mean the death penalty is infallible.

“Obviously, one case does not in any way reflect on the correctness of the other 1,000 executions we’ve had in the last 30 years,” said Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project. “Other governors should take their lead from Governor Warner and do post-execution testing in their cases, because ... there’s no reason not to — it’s all about getting to the truth.”

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