U.S.: Did George W. Bush allow the execution of an innocent man?
- I have no doubt that if President Bush had known about the request to do a DNA test of the hair he would have issued a 30-day stay in this case and Jones would not have been executed.
- Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck • Arguing that George W. Bush, while still governor of Texas, let death row inmate Claude Jones face execution in 2000, despite the existence of DNA evidence which proved he was innocent. The Innocence Project revealed today that Jones’ DNA was not found at the crime scene of the liquor store where the 1989 murder of Allen Hilzendager. While hair at the crime scene was initially linked to Jones after the crime took place, it wasn’t actually his, and even though Jones asked for DNA testing on the strand of hair, it wasn’t enough to force a stay of execution. No other physical evidence linked Jones to the scene. source