PORT ANGELES — Thirteen items will be tested for DNA in the case of death row inmate Darold Stenson, formally of Sequim, a Clallam County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.
A review hearing for DNA testing is set for March 19.
Stenson, 56, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 3 at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
He was convicted in 1994 in Clallam County Superior Court of killing his wife and business partner at his bird farm outside of Sequim in 1993.
Legal moves led to separate stays of execution — one in Clallam County and one in U.S. District Court. The execution was canceled on Dec. 1.
The state Supreme Court upheld the Clallam County decision.
Last November, Clallam County Superior Court Williams reversed a decision he had previously made on DNA testing.
A new witness, Robert Shinn, claimed that he had a conversation with another man about eight years ago regarding Stenson, and claimed the second man that Stenson was not guilty and had been framed.
Thirteen items are headed to the crime lab. The list includes articles of clothing, a coffee cup, bullets, cartridges and a revolver.
Williams denied the state’s request for findings of fact regarding the possibility that DNA testing might establish the existence of another perpetrator.
Williams in November said that further DNA testing will be more likely to inculpate Stenson than exonerate him.
Stenson has maintained his innocence throughout the years.
