A review of DNA evidence used to convict Paul Ware in 1996 of the slaying and rape of a 4-year-old girl confirms a link between the Chattanooga man and the crime.
Ware, who is serving life in prison without parole and was the first person ever tried in the United States using mitochondrial DNA testing, requested the review of evidence. He hoped that new tests on two hairs found at the crime scene would cast doubt on his involvement with the murder.
But after seeing the results of the DNA testing, Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole dismissed Ware’s post-conviction petition. Ware also chose to withdraw his petition.
A lawyer with the University of Tennessee School of Law Innocence Clinic had been involved with Ware’s petition, records show.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.