New DNA Evidence May Shake Conviction in 1996 Murder Case

1996 MURDER Conviction Wrong? – New DNA Evidence Found!

(NewsBroadcast.com) – Amanda “Mandy” Jo Maher was 18 years old when authorities found her barely hanging on for life with a railroad spike driven through her temple on some abandoned tracks in Xenia, Ohio, in 1988. In 1996, a jury convicted David Lee Myers of killing her and sentenced him to die. Decades later — thanks to science — he has a shot at freedom.

In 2020, US District Court Magistrate Judge Kimberly Jolson of the Southern District of Ohio set the stage for him to get a new trial by granting him the “leave to conduct discovery [re-examine evidence]” that was used to convict him. The judge allowed a new look at the evidence that was presented because the original case hinged on a single pubic hair found on the victim.

Now, new DNA test results could prove someone else committed the crime, at least according to Myers’ attorneys. The 2020 ruling noted that the level of the DNA evidence used by the forensic witnesses “is now regarded as questionable science” and called it “primitive.”

DNA science in the 1990s is not what it is today. At that time, the tests on the hair found on the body contained what experts considered to be a profile found in 2% of the white population. Today, experts think that percentage could be closer to 75%. In addition, other DNA evidence collected at the crime scene does not belong to Myers.

Lawyers for Myers also say some evidence has not been made available to them. Authorities admit they are still looking for items that seem to be missing, including fingerprints, hairs, and swabs from the victim’s body.

If it turns out that Mr. Myers was wrongly convicted, he has lived most people’s worst nightmares for the past two decades, not to mention his address being Death Row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. It also means a different sort of nightmare for Ms. Maher’s family because they will realize their loved one has never been given justice.

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