THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120469
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
New genetic evidence supports the innocence of convicted rapist Edward Honaker, according to a well-respected California forensics expert.
Honaker had sought clemency from Gov. George F. Allen after DNA tests earlier this year ruled him out as the perpetrator of a 1984 rape. Allen considered the petition for two months, then announced that a new state police investigation had cast doubt on Honaker's innocence.
That investigation, Allen said in August, revealed that the rape victim had sex with a secret lover in addition to her boyfriend during the week before the rape. So even though DNA tests on a vaginal swab taken after the incident excluded both the boyfriend and Honaker, Allen contended, thepresence of a third man could have masked Honaker's sperm.
Advocates for Honaker disputed that claim, pointing out that Honaker has been unable to produce sperm since undergoing a vasectomy in 1977.
But even if Honaker could, says Dr. Edward T. Blake of the Forensic Science Associates Laboratory in Richmond, Calif., recently conducted polymarker tests would exonerate him.
``Even if Edward Honaker was capable of producing sperm at the time of this incident, he is eliminated as the sperm source in this evidence by multiple genetic analyses,'' Blake wrote in a report submitted Sept. 27 to Allen's legal counsel, Frank Atkinson.
The new tests show no sign of DNA from the secret lover on the victim's vaginal swab, the report said. ``Thus, the sperm must originate from the . . . assailant.''
Blake, who is well-known in his field, also analyzed the DNA evidence that linked ``Southside Strangler'' Timothy Spencer to the murder of a 15-year-old Richmond girl in 1987. Spencer was the first Virginia defendant convicted on the basis of such evidence. He died in the state's electric chair in April. Blake said Tuesday that he would not discuss the Honaker case until after Allen responds to the latest report. But he did call Allen's inaction so far ``perplexing.''
Advocates for Honaker say they also are perplexed.
``For some reason, the governor seems to see some sort of conflict between freeing an innocent man in prison and taking a strong stand on crime,'' said Kate Germond, a New Jersey investigator, on Tuesday. Germond has worked for two years to free Honaker.
Allen administration officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday afternoon.
Honaker, now 44, was sentenced to three life terms plus 34 years in prison. He has served 10. ILLUSTRATION: FILE COLOR PHOTO
Edward Honaker, convicted of a 1984 rape on the Blue Ridge Parkway,
was sentenced to three life terms plus 34 years.
KEYWORDS: RAPE SEX CRIME DNA EVIDENCE by CNB