DNA evidence review confirms link to killer

A review of DNA evidence used to convict Paul Ware in 1996 in the slaying and rape of a 4-year-old girl confirms that two hairs found on the young girl's body are a match to Ware.

"The results of post-conviction DNA analysis were unfavorable to the petitioner," a ruling filed Monday by Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole stated.

Ware, who is serving life in prison without parole for the murder of Lindsey Green, was the first person ever tried in the United States using mitochondrial DNA testing.

He had requested the review of forensic evidence as part of a post-conviction appeal.

In 1994, Ware was found sleeping nude on the floor of a laundry room in a North Chattanooga home with Lindsey's lifeless, naked body next to him. Several hairs were found in the child's criblike bed that matched Ware in DNA tests.

And two hairs were found inside the girl, who had been raped and mutilated. One hair, found inside her throat during an autopsy, was matched to Ware. Another hair, found on her anus, never was tested because it was considered too small for testing, according to court records.

Ware has argued that the second hair would not be a match to him, and his lawyers said a DNA analysis of the hair could cast doubt on his involvement in the killing.

A lawyer with the University of Tennessee School of Law Innocence Clinic had been involved with Ware's petition, along with local attorney Myrlene Marsa, records show.

When the recent DNA results were returned, Poole said, Ware tried to withdraw his petition.

But Poole wrote in his ruling that Ware couldn't withdraw the petition because biological evidence was submitted for DNA analysis.

Even with the recent DNA results, Hank Hill, a private defense attorney who represented Ware during his trial in 1996, said he still believes Ware couldn't have committed the killing.

Hill always has argued that Lindsey's baby sitter killed the child as part of a satanic ritual and framed Ware.

No blood was found on Ware, and no semen was found at the crime scene, court records show.

"How could he possibly have committed that murder?" Hill said Tuesday. "The DNA results are irrelevant."

Still, the results could mean Ware is out of legal options, he said.

"There is not much else he can do," Hill said.

Contact Joan Garrett at jgarrett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.

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