LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied death row inmate Stacey Johnson of his second request to order DNA testing.
It's another Innocence Project case -- with the organization and a little rock defense attorney, trying to prove Johnson innocent of the 1993 murder of Carol Heath.
He was convicted in 1994, then had a re-trial in 1997, when he was convicted once again.
Unlike the case of Ledell Lee, a man whose family is requesting DNA testing nearly three years after his execution, Johnson's trial did include the results of DNA testing.
When Johnson was set to be executed in 2017, a complicated series of appeals and hearings led to a stay from the Arkansas Supreme Court, forbidding his execution.
But after more hearings, and re-hearings, the state's highest court says he is out of appeals.
They quoted the United States Supreme Court as saying:
"Where there is enough other incriminating evidence and an explanation for the DNA result, science alone cannot prove a prisoner innocent. The availability of technologies not available at trial cannot mean that every criminal conviction, or even every criminal conviction involving biological evidence, is suddenly in doubt."
THV11 reached out to Johnson's attorney, asking about his next steps, including whether or not they plan to make a federal appeal. We have not received a response.
Stacey Johnson remains on death row, but the state has no executions scheduled and no supply of drugs.
It's an on-going federal case, challenging its three-drug protocol.