Larue v. Texas

Appellant Joe LaRue was convicted for the capital murder of Donna Pentecost, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was based in part on DNA evidence and in part on the very detailed testimony of a jailhouse informant. The conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Appellant filed a motion for forensic DNA testing seeking re-testing of several things, but the motion was denied by the trial court. The Court of Appeals found Appellant could not show that he would not have been convicted if exculpatory results had been obtained through DNA testing, and affirmed. Although Appellant raised a variety of issues regarding the trial court’s ruling and the court of appeals’ affirmation of that ruling, the Court of Criminal Appeals granted review to take a closer look at the trial court’s decision to deny testing of the blood on a one-time-suspect’s t-shirt. After examining the record, the Court affirmed the court of appeals: exculpatory test results would "merely muddy the waters." View "Larue v. Texas" on Justia Law