ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404240119
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

CONDEMNED MAN REQUESTS NEW DNA TEST

Timothy W. Spencer, scheduled to die Wednesday in Virginia's electric chair, has appealed a ruling rejecting another round of DNA testing to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Attorneys for Spencer filed the appeal Friday in response to a ruling Thursday by Richmond Circuit Judge James B. Wilkinson.

Wilkinson declined to release semen stains introduced at Spencer's trial for retesting.

Spencer has been sentenced to death for four 1987 murders - two in Richmond, and one each in Chesterfield and Arlington counties. He was convicted on the basis of DNA evidence, and was the first person sentenced to death after such a conviction. - Associated Press 


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