POINT BLANK, Texas – Ten years after he was executed, new questions have emerged over whether a lifelong criminal killed a 44-year-old man while robbing a liquor store owner in a tiny Texas town.
Claude Jones was executed for the 1989 slaying of Allen Hilzendager.
A judge has ordered DNA testing on a strand of hair that prosecutors used to link Jones to the murder. Jones was put to death in 2000. Until his death, he denied being the triggerman to his lawyer and his son.
It’s the second time in a year the guilt of an executed Texas inmate is in doubt. A fire expert said the investigation of the fire that killed three girls was so flawed that the arson finding can’t be supported. Their father was executed in 2004. A state panel concluded arson investigators were not negligent.