Posted 11:08 am Thursday, September 06, 2012
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Judge rejects KFC killers' request for new DNA testing
BY KENNETH DEAN
kdean@tylerpaper.com
State District Judge Clay Gossett has denied two convicted killers' request for new DNA testing in the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murders.
kdean@tylerpaper.com
State District Judge Clay Gossett has denied two convicted killers' request for new DNA testing in the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murders.
Gossett, 4th District Court, said in his denial that the DNA has already been tested and compared to the men's DNA profiles using modern testing techniques.
Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton, two Tyler cousins, are currently serving life sentences for the kidnapping and murders of five people from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore on Sept. 23, 1983.
The case went unsolved for decades until DNA testing performed in 2001 pointed to the two cousins.
Hartsfiled maintained his innocence throughout his trial in 2008, but his cousin entered a plea of guilty after three weeks of his trial in 2007.
Both men have filed motions requesting DNA testing by an independent lab several times and Gossett has struck down the motion each time, because testing was done by several labs including one hired by the men's attorneys.
“As such, this court finds that there are no reasonable grounds for said motion and consequently no need for appointment of counsel. Therefore, the motion, is in all things, denied,” Gossett wrote in his order.
The case went unsolved for decades until DNA testing performed in 2001 pointed to the two cousins.
Hartsfiled maintained his innocence throughout his trial in 2008, but his cousin entered a plea of guilty after three weeks of his trial in 2007.
Both men have filed motions requesting DNA testing by an independent lab several times and Gossett has struck down the motion each time, because testing was done by several labs including one hired by the men's attorneys.
“As such, this court finds that there are no reasonable grounds for said motion and consequently no need for appointment of counsel. Therefore, the motion, is in all things, denied,” Gossett wrote in his order.
