Texas May Have Executed Innocent Man, Says Lawyer

A DNA test has found that the only piece of physical used to convict Claude Jones did not belong to him.

Claude was executed in 2000, during the final weeks of George W. Bush’s term as Texas governor, for the murder of a liquor store attendant. The only physical evidence linking him to the crime was a single hair that DNA tests have now revealed was not his. Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project says that the test does not prove Claude was innocent, but does mean there was not enough evidence to convict him. The only other evidence against him was testimony from his alleged accomplice, which is considered invalid without corroboration. Scheck said Bush’s staff neglected to tell him Claude was seeking a DNA test, and that Bush would have granted a stay of his execution had he known.