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Tennessee appellate panel hears argument in Walton bid for additional post‑conviction DNA testing
Summary
A three‑judge panel in Knoxville heard oral argument in Dwight Randall Walton v. State of Tennessee over a request for additional DNA testing of a degraded sample that defense counsel says could exclude the victim as the minor contributor and undermine the conviction.
A three‑judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals heard oral argument in Knoxville on a post‑conviction petition by Dwight Randall Walton seeking additional DNA testing on evidence from his 2014 trial.
Defense attorney McMurray told the court that the defense seeks testing under the Post Conviction DNA Analysis Act and argued the advanced testing could exclude the victim as the source of a secondary DNA profile found on the couch cushion at issue. “What we're asking for under the Post Conviction DNA Analysis Act, we're asking for further testing of that DNA evidence,” McMurray said.
The case matters because new testing protocols and expanded marker sets can change statistical weight assigned to degraded samples, potentially altering whether DNA evidence bolstered witness testimony at trial. The panel questioned counsel about standards for relief under the statute and the proper standard of review for the post‑conviction court's denial.
At trial in April 2014, the state's DNA analyst, Agent…
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