By Mike Wagner

The Columbus Dispatch Thursday August 2, 2012 10:55 AM

Attorneys for former Akron Police Capt. Douglas Prade, center, say the tests prove his innocence.

New lab-test results show that DNA recovered from a murder scene in Summit County didn't come from a former Akron police captain who was convicted of killing his ex-wife nearly 15 years ago in a case that received national attention.

Douglas Prade, 66, is currently serving a life sentence at the Madison Correctional Institution, but has always maintained his innocence after being convicted in September of 1998. Prade was found guilty of shooting his ex-wife, Margo, a prominent Akron doctor and the mother of his two daughters. Margo was shot six times following a struggle in her van in a parking lot outside of her office.

They are not going to find my DNA because I didnt do it, said Prade in a prison interview with the Dispatch last year. This has always been about seeking and revealing the truth.

View video interviews The Dispatch conducted with Prade in 2007

The DNA testing, conducted by DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield, north of Cincinnati, focused on the lab coat Margo was wearing during the attack and specifically a bite mark left by her killer. Testing results released today found male DNA present within the bite mark but it didnt match Prade. Further testing of the lab coat performed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations during the past several months didnt detect the presence of other male DNA. Fingernail scrapings from Margo Prade and other items collected from the crime scene were also tested and excluded Douglas Prades DNA.

Attorneys at the Ohio Innocence Project, based at the University of Cincinnati, say the testing results prove Prades innocence and he should be exonerated. They are asking Summit County Common Pleas Judge Judy L. Hunter to set Douglas Prade free or, at the very least, grant him a new trial. A hearing in Akron to determine the significance of the new testing results is scheduled for Aug. 21.

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Former Akron police captain excluded by DNA test