PORT ANGELES — Darrold Stenson would have been convicted of the murders of his wife and business partner in 1994 even if disputed evidence had not been admitted, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams has concluded.
The judge also said that gunshot-residue evidence used during the trial that convicted Stenson should not have been used.
But he found that the absence of that evidence would have likely not changed the outcome due to the other evidence stacked against him, according to a document he filed in Superior Court today.
The state Supreme Court will use his findings to determine whether Stenson should get a new trial.
Stenson, 57, was sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of his wife, Denise, and his business partner, Frank Hoerner on his exotic bird farm in the Dungeness Valley. He has been on death row in the state prison in Walla Walla.
Stenson’s attorneys argued last month in Port Angeles that he deserves a new trial because of possible contamination of the blood-stained pants where the gunshot residue was found.
They pointed to a photograph taken shortly before the FBI conducted the gunshot-residue test.
The picture shows the lead investigator wearing the pants that Stenson is said to have worn the day of the murders.
The purpose of the photo was to see whether the blood could have gotten on them from Stenson kneeling by the victims.
But the picture — discovered by his attorneys last year — shows that the investigator wasn’t wearing gloves and that the same pocket where gunshot residue was found was turned inside out.
Stenson has been granted two stays of execution — one to allow for further DNA testing, and another to challenge the state’s lethal injection policy. Both are pending.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
