DATE: Thursday, July 10, 1997               TAG: 9707100495

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   29 lines

STATE SUPREME COURT REJECTS O'DELL'S BID FOR NEW DNA TESTS

The Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected convicted killer Joseph Roger O'Dell III's request that new tests be performed on DNA evidence in O'Dell's bid to win an acquittal.

The state's highest court upheld a decision by Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Frederick Lowe to disallow the test on a tiny sperm sample taken from the body of O'Dell's victim, Helen Schartner.

``There is no reversible error in the judgement complained of,'' a statement from the supreme court said.

O'Dell is scheduled to be executed July 23 for raping and strangling Schartner outside a Virginia Beach night club in 1985.

Douglas Curtis, one of O'Dell's lawyers, was unavailable for comment, his office said.

O'Dell's case has been championed by Pope John Paul II and by the Italian government. Barry Scheck, the lawyer who helped O.J. Simpson win acquittal in his criminal trial, has asked Gov. George Allen to authorize the new DNA test.

O'Dell's team of supporters, also including ``Dead Man Walking'' author Sister Helen Prejean, are planning a news conference in Richmond today to speak about the case. KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT DNA DEATH ROW

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