DNA tests don’t free inmate

NEZPERCE, Idaho – An Idaho death row inmate who claimed DNA from fingernail scrapings would exonerate him in his girlfriend’s 1988 slaying will remain behind bars for now after recent tests proved inconclusive, the inmate’s lawyer says.

George Junior Porter, 48, was convicted more than a decade ago of killing Theresa Lynn Jones. The then-29-year-old woman died after being struck on the head.

Another man initially admitted to killing Jones, but later recanted, and Porter was found guilty.

In 2002, Porter filed a petition asking for DNA testing of fingernail scrapings from Jones. Such testing wasn’t available at the time of his trial. Similar tests in 2001 showed that hairs critical to convicting another Idaho man, Charles Irvin Fain, of killing a 9-year-old girl weren’t his. Fain was released after 17 years on death row.

But test results made public this week showed the scrapings were from Jones herself, said Bruce Livingston, a federal public defender representing Porter. In addition, two of three pubic hairs from the scene were also tested, Livingston said. One belonged to Jones, he said, while the other test was inconclusive.

Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Kimron Torgerson said more testing will be done on blood found on a guitar case at the scene.