Was Wrong Man Executed?

Three newspapers have joined legal efforts seeking new DNA testing in the case of a man executed in 1992 following his conviction for rape and murder.

The Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk on Saturday asked Buchanan County Circuit Court Judge K.R. Williams to allow the tests on evidence that helped put to death Roger Keith Coleman, who had insisted he was innocent.

"DNA testing in the criminal justice system and in the Coleman case, in particular, is a matter of significant public interest," said Megan Rupp, an attorney for The Post.

A hearing is slated for Jan. 8. The new requests join those filed in September by the Boston Globe and Centurion Ministry, a New Jersey charity that investigates claims of wrongful convictions.

They asked that Coleman's genes again be compared with sperm found on the body of Wanda McCoy, who was raped and stabbed to death in Grundy, Va., in 1981.

A 1991 test showed that sperm from the rape matched DNA in 2 percent of the population, including Coleman. Also, Coleman failed a lie detector test the morning he was executed.

New techniques could resolve the question of Coleman's guilt, said Edward Blake, head of Forensic Science Associates, the California laboratory that did the 1991 DNA testing.

Virginia opposes retesting.

"Coleman's guilt is clear," said David Botkins, spokesman for Attorney General Mark L. Earley.

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