PORT ANGELES — A convicted double-murderer’s stay of execution will lapse Wednesday as previously ordered by a Clallam County judge, but he will not face death by lethal injection quite yet.
In an expected move, the state Supreme Court last month gave Darold Stenson another stay that will be in effect until it determines whether the former Sequim man should get a new trial.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams in May ordered his last stay to be terminated, effective Wednesday, after further DNA testing failed to provide evidence that someone other than Stenson killed his wife and business partner over 17 years ago.
Stenson’s 28-year-old wife, Denise, and his 33-year-old business partner, Frank Hoerner, were shot to death in 1993 at Stenson’s bird farm southwest of Sequim.
Stenson was convicted by a Clallam County jury of two counts of first-degree aggravated murder in 1994.
The Supreme Court now is considering whether to give Stenson a new trial over possible evidence contamination.
The evidence in question is a pair of blood-stained jeans, which the 57-year-old man wore the day of the murders.
In a photograph taken before the trial, and discovered by Stenson’s legal team last year, the lead investigator in the murder case is seen wearing the jeans.
The investigator donned the jeans at the request of a blood-spatter expert who thought it would help determine whether Stenson got blood on his pants by kneeling by the victims or attacking them.
But Stenson’s lawyers argue that the investigator contaminated the evidence since he was not wearing gloves and because a front pocket can be seen turned inside out.
An FBI test later found gunshot residue particles in the same pocket. Prosecutors used the presence of the gunshot residue to help prove Stenson’s guilt.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
