Larry Ray Swearingen was sentenced to death on July 11, 2000 for the 1998 kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Melissa Trotter, a 19-year-old college student from Montgomery County, Texas. DNA testing excluded Swearingen as the perpetrator, and forensic science conclusively proves Swearingen was in the county jail for outstanding traffic warrants for at least two weeks before the victim died. There are no co-defendants.

While the number of forensic experts grow affirming the affidavits, testimonies and statements given by numerous other forensic scientists, the State of Texas has not released this man from death row yet, instead given three execution dates in January 2007, January 2009 and August 2011.

The prior precedent, Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993), created a public outcry when a slim majority, under Chief Justice Rehnquist, held that the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment would not be violated by executing a person who could show actual innocence but was procedurally barred from another review of their conviction.

On July 28, 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the third execution date and remanded the case back to the trial court to review and resolve Swearingen's claim of actual innocence and due process violation. You can find the court file here.

To get a better understanding of this case, you may read the excellent articles "In Death Row Case, Scientific Data May Finally Get Its Day in Court" by Brandi Grissom, and "Rick Perry v. Forensic Science" written by Mike Hall from Texas Monthly.

Thank you all very much for your support and welcome to this site.