PORT ANGELES — Convicted Sequim killer Darold Stenson’s attorneys on Thursday filed a motion in Clallam County Superior Court for additional DNA testing.
A review hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Clallam County Superior Court.
Stenson, 56, remains on death row in Walla Walla awaiting the results of DNA testing allowed in January on items taken from the crime scene, where two people were found dead in 1993.
He was convicted in 1994 on two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his wife, Denise, and business partner, Frank Hoerner, at his bird farm outside of Sequim.
Stenson was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Dec. 3 of last year.
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.
A new witness, Robert Shinn, claimed that he had a conversation with another man regarding Stenson and claimed the second man said Stenson was not guilty and had been framed.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams ruled on Jan. 22 that 13 items from the crime scene could be tested for DNA.
Stenson’s attorneys Robert Gombiner and Sheryl McCloud on Feb. 12 filed a motion for fingerprint analysis.
“Until Mr. Shinn came forward, there was no basis for requesting fingerprint comparisons with the individuals he identified,” the defense lawyers wrote in the motion.
“Now such a basis exists.”
In the event that the original 13 items yield inconclusive DNA results, Thursday’s motion requests the transfer of additional evidence for DNA testing.
The State Patrol crime lab tested the 13 items Williams allowed on Jan. 22.
Other items from the crime scene remain in possession of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
