DNA testing results released on death row case of Larry Swearingen

More than a year after prosecutors agreed to DNA testing on decades-old evidence in a Montgomery County death row case, the results are in - and they didn't reveal anything new.

Most of the aging evidence sent to the lab didn't show any male DNA at all, prosecutors said, while the genetic material pulled from cigarette butts found near Melissa Trotter's body only traced back to the hunters who found her.

"Everything (the defense) requested to be tested has been tested at this point," said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Blackburn.

Now, with no pending appeals and no new DNA to help validate his claims of innocence, convicted killer Larry Swearingen could be one step closer to yet another execution date.

"Unfortunately, the testing we did really didn't move the ball," said Bryce Benjet, a defense attorney with the Innocence Project. "At the end of the day, it was useful to the extent that it can show that we tested every item and none of that testing has pointed to Larry Swearingen."

The 47-year-old was sentenced to die two decades ago for the murder of a Montgomery College student. In the years since, the Willis man has fended off the state's repeated attempts to execute him, lobbing a slew of appeals, including multiple pleas for testing on pantyhose and cigarettes found in the woods near the slain woman's body.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers finally came to a testing agreement in late 2017, after years of back-and-forth over various proposals.

In addition to the cigarette butts and some of the slain teen's clothes, the lab analyzed hair stuck in a knot tied in the torn pair of pantyhose used in the murder. Though the strands looked like they may have belonged to someone other than Trotter, the 2-decade-old sample didn't net any DNA for testing, Benjet said.

Attorneys also asked for testing on a different piece of pantyhose found near Swearingen's trailer after the crime. Whether that's the other half of the pair used in the killing has been a point of dispute, but testing on it showed some DNA pointing to Swearingen – and nothing pointing to Trotter.

The last time anyone saw Trotter alive was on Dec. 8, 1998, when she and Swearingen were spotted together in the community college library. Afterward, a biology teacher caught sight of Trotter leaving the school with a man.

Hair and fiber evidence later showed that she'd been in Swearingen's car at some point before she vanished.

Swearingen's wife testified that she came home that evening to find the place in disarray - and in the middle of it all were a lighter and cigarettes believed to belong to Trotter. Swearingen later filed a burglary report, saying his home had been broken into while he was out of town.

That afternoon, he placed a call routed through a cell tower near FM 1097 in Willis - a spot prosecutors say he would have passed while heading from his house to the Sam Houston National Forest where Trotter's decomposing body was found 25 days later.

Crime scene investigators recovered biological material from the scene - but there was never any conclusive link to Swearingen. Instead, he was convicted and sentenced to death based on what courts later described as a "mountain" of circumstantial evidence.

Since he was sent to death row in 2000, he's had at least 5 execution dates set and canceled.

In 2017, he made national headlines as the result of a plot with another condemned prisoner, serial killer Anthony Shore. Shore, who has since been executed, was allegedly planning to wrongly confess to Trotter's slaying in the final minutes before his death.

But authorities got wind of the supposed scheme, and called off Shore's execution date to investigate further. Then, the courts called off Swearingen's death date a month later - not because of the plot or any concerns about his possible innocence, but because of a clerical error.

Afterward, lawyers on both sides of the case agreed to testing, a process that's dragged out for more than a year.

Currently, Swearingen doesn't have any appeals pending, but Benjet – who is handling the case along with Houston-based attorney James Rytting – hinted at the possibility of more court filings ahead, including claims questioning the cell phone forensics used to pinpoint Swearingen's location.

Source: Houston Chronicle, Keri Blakinger, February 5, 2019

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Alabama | Gov. Ivey commutes Charles “Sonny” Burton’s death sentence

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, who was set to be executed Thursday. The governor’s office released the following statement: “Governor Kay Ivey on Tuesday announced that she has commuted the death sentence of Charles L. Burton to life in prison with no chance of parole. Mr. Burton was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 capital murder of Doug Battle in Talladega, Alabama. As required by law, the governor first reached out to a representative of Mr. Battle’s family. She also notified the attorney general. Governor Ivey’s letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm is attached.

Texas executes Cedric Ricks

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution. Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ...

Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.

Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years. Lance Shockley, a man on death row in Missouri, wanted items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing to potentially prove his innocence. The court scheduled proceedings on his request — but the date set was for two days after his execution. Patty Prewitt can’t have her DNA tested — and fully clear her name — because her sentence was commuted and she is no longer in prison. And others, including Lamar McVay, who is serving 30 years for a robbery, can’t even get an answer from the state on his DNA testing request. He's still awaiting a ruling on a motion he filed in September 2022.

Maldives | Death penalty law for drug trafficking now in effect

MALÉ, Maldives (DPN) — The Maldives has officially brought into force an amendment to its Narcotics Act that introduces the death penalty for large-scale drug trafficking, marking a significant and controversial shift in the island nation’s criminal justice policy. The amended law, which took effect Saturday, March 7, 2026, allows for capital punishment in cases involving the smuggling and importation of specific quantities of illicit substances. The move fulfills a key pledge by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to crack down on the country’s growing narcotics crisis and protect what he has termed the nation’s “100 percent Islamic society.” Thresholds for Capital Punishment Under the new provisions, the death penalty is not a mandatory sentence but an available option for the judiciary when specific criteria are met. The law establishes clear weight thresholds for substances brought into the country: Cannabis: More than 350 grams. Diamorphine (Heroin): More than 250 grams....

Alabama | Death row inmate granted clemency shares emotional message on day he was set to die

Alabama governor commuted death sentence of Charles Burton, 75, who didn't kill anyone An Alabama man who was outside a building when a man was killed in an armed robbery is looking at life as "a gift from God" after being granted clemency by the state’s governor just days before he was scheduled to be executed. Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a Talladega AutoZone store that left a man dead in 1991. While Burton left the store before Derrick DeBruce gunned down customer Doug Battle, he was tried and convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors insisting Burton acted as the group’s leader in the armed robbery.

U.S. | These States Don’t Want You to See the Cruelty of Their Executions

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

Supreme Court Denies Alabama Appeal, Allowing New Trial in Death Row Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a new trial for one of Alabama’s longest-serving people on death row after declining to review a lower court ruling that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to an article written by the Associated Press, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in Alabama might receive a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that prosecutors had violated his rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to the article, on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This decision paved the way for Michael Sockwell, the 63-year-old death row inmate, to receive a new trial.

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog