St. Louis judge rejects convicted killer’s innocence claim

ST. LOUIS New DNA tests don't prove that a St. Louis man is innocent of the 1982 murder of a woman and the sexual assault of her young daughters, a judge has ruled.

Rodney Lincoln, 69, had sought to have his double life sentence overturned based on DNA testing that he claimed shows he did not murderJoAnn Tate, 35, nor assault her daughters, Melissa, 7, and Renee, 4.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robin Vannoy rejected his motion on Tuesday after hearing the case argued in September.

The Midwest Innocence Project, which took up Lincoln's case in 2005, hoped to get him released under a state law that allows for post-conviction DNA testing in certain instances. Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyces officeagreed to new testing after misplaced evidence was found. But prosecutorsopposed his release, saying this is not a case where DNA provides the final word.

The results showed no male DNA on several bloody items from the apartment just that of the victims. Previous testing also showed Lincoln was not the source of hair found on a blanket on one girls bed and from one girls rape kit. The hairs don't match any of the victims, either.

Laura OSullivan, legal director for the Midwest Innocence Project, argued one of the hairs had been the linchpin to Lincolns conviction.

A St. Louis police crime lab technician had described it as a match to Lincoln, using a hair comparison method that has since been debunked. The hair testimony was not introduced in Lincoln's original case, which ended in mistrial, but was presented to the jury in a second trial, which ended in conviction.

But prosecutors said while the hairs don't match Lincoln, they don't prove he's innocent.

Life is not whats on CSI, Assistant Circuit Attorney Ed Postawko said in September. Nothing about this demonstrates Rodney Lincolns innocence. It just shows they werent able to get the perpetrators DNA.

He pointed out one hair from the crime scene was found to belong to an animal, showing that the two hairs in question could have been left by someone other than the attacker.

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St. Louis judge rejects convicted killer's innocence claim