Why some believe and others reject that DNA could vindicate man executed for murder – Commercial Appeal

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On the day she was to graduate from the Memphis Naval Air Station in 1985, Marine L. Cpl. Suzanne M. Collins nude and mutilated body was found under a tree in a Millington park. She had been raped and impaled by a tree branch, strangled and severely beaten.

The 19-year-old had wanted to become a jet pilot even though she had been told that women werent allowed to fly jet planes.

In 2006, after years of legal wrangling and multiple stays of execution, Sedley Alley was killed by the state by lethal injection, convicted of kidnapping, murdering and raping Collins.

Now, Alleys daughter, administrator of his estate, is asking 13 years after her fathers death that DNA be tested for the first time.

A judge could rule on whether to test the DNA as early as Monday.

Marine Corps Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins, 19, was murdered in 1985 in Millington.(Photo: U.S. Marine Corps)

But there are multiple narratives surrounding Collins brutal death, Alleys years of appealsand whether testing the DNA today could reveal Alleys innocence or confirm his guilt.

In one narrative,put forth by Alleys defense in the original trial, Alley had multiple personality disorder and couldnt be responsible for the crime. That tale involves a personality named Death, riding on a white horse and wearing a black cape and hood.

Another narrative, put forward by the prosecution,depicts Alley as a perverse man with little empathy, fascinated by violent sex, who may have been spotted by the young Marine while committing a burglary at an admirals home.

Today, those advocating for DNA testing say Alley was coerced by police into making a false confession, and that he consistently said he had no memory of the night Collins was murdered and that the evidence used against him, along with his original confession, doesnt add up.

Whether the judge decides to move forward with the testing of the DNA may not hinge on any of those narratives, but rather on a technical argument: That of whether the estate of a dead man has the right to petition for post-conviction relief.

Although the Tennessee courts denied the request for DNA testing prior to Alley's execution, a ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court would later open the doorfor the possibility of items from the crime scene being tested, according to the petition by April Alley, Alleys daughter.

April Alley is represented by The Innocence Project, a nonprofit that advocates for DNA testing and criminal justice reform.

April Alley, daughter of Sedley Alley, listens as Barry Scheck, Innocence Project co-director, speaks Oct. 14, 2019, during a hearing at the Shelby County courthouse in Memphis.(Photo: Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal)

Innocence Project attorneys have argued that stains on the t-shirt Collins was wearing and on her bra should be tested, as well as DNA from red underwear found by her body that the prosecution had argued belonged to the assailant.

Although April Alley immediately raised the possibility of calling for testing of the DNA after her fathers execution, the renewed push comes after The Innocence Project learned another man who took courses from the same training school in Millington as Collins is under indictment for homicide and rape and may be a serial offender, according to their petition.

Kelley Henry, a federal public defender who once worked with Sedley Alley, said a medical examiners report also placed the time of Collins death at a time that we can prove Sedleys whereabouts.

That document, which had been suppressed, led to a full-scale reexamination of the case with fresh eyes, Henry wrote in an email.

Sedley Alley: Thirteen years after death-row inmate executed, court asked to test DNA that could exonerate Tennessee man

In an October hearing, Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan heard arguments about whether DNA testing should be allowed.

There, Steve Jones, assistant district attorney general, argued Tennessee law guarantees a right to post-conviction relief for "a person convicted or sentenced. In this case, the petition was filed by the estate for Sedley Alley, not the person, he said, making it not applicable.

The states response to the Alley estates petition says, If the General Assembly had wanted to extend that standing to estates of deceased persons, it surely could have done so. It did not.

Theres also the question of whether the DNA could actually exonerate Alley. Those supporting the petition say if several items produced a male DNA profile that matched each other, but not Sedley Alley, that would suggest someone other than Alley committed the crime. And, if the DNA matched someone in an offender database, that would be powerful exculpatory evidence, they wrote.

But the state has argued there is already overwhelming evidence for Alleys guilt.

And, they pointed out, in their response, Alley confessed.

Death row inmate Sedley Alley, who was executed in 2006.(Photo: File)

Sedley Alley said a figure called Death, wearing a black cape and hood and riding a white horse, was with him on the night he raped and killed Marine L. Cpl. Suzanne M. Collins, a psychiatrist testified yesterday, began a Commercial Appeal article describing Alleys trial on March 17, 1987.

However, the assistant district attorney general read letters Alley wrote in which he told family of his plans to plead temporary insanity.

A taped confession was different: In it, Alley said he killed Collins in a drunken accident, striking her with his car, then stabbing her in the head with a screwdriver when she came upon him unexpectedly; Then he disrobed her and mutilated her body to stage it like a rape, he said.

After Alley was arrested, he confessed and even led police to the scene of the crime and the tree where he said he removed the limb used in the attack

A county medical examiner testified her injuries did not show she had been struck by a car or stabbed in the head (although she was beaten, and a screwdriver found nearby).

Mental health specialists from the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute, where Alley had been kept pre-trial, testified Alley faked mental illness while there to develop an insanity defense.

The prosecution used all of this to say Alley was self-serving, that he had brutally murdered Collins, minimized his responsibility in his confession and tried to plead insanity to shift the blame.

Rebecca Easley, a victims advocate who became a friend of Collins parents, said they were convinced of his guilt.

They were wonderful people, just the nicest people youd ever want to meet, she said. Theyre not the type of people that would want an innocent person to be executed. Thats for certain. They had no doubt. They had no doubt, they didnt question (his guilt) at all.

But advocates for Alley and now his daughter say the inconsistencies between Alleys confession, the crime scene and his defense point to something different: That he was innocent, coerced into a false confession by the police.

Sedley consistently said that he was coerced by the police, that they put a gun to his head, and that he had no memory of the night that Ms. Collins was murdered, Henry said. He always said that if he did it that he deserved to be executed, but he just did not believe that he did.

Alleys lawyers did not formally raise the claim of Alleys innocence until 2004, just 30 days before his scheduled execution.

There are other pieces of evidence or lack thereof that The Innocence Project points to. A witness description did not match Alley, no fingerprints from Collins were found in his vehicle, blood on the headlights belonged to an animal, their petition says. Small traces of blood found elsewhere on the car was Collins blood type, but also the same blood type as Alley.

And, an expert whose testimony they included in their petition said, the officers who interrogated Alley before taping his confession contaminated, and thus tainted, Mr. Alleys statement by supplying him with non-public crime details that he then regurgitated back to them in his confession.

Tennessee executions since 2000: Sedley Alley; Date of Execution: June 28, 2006 (For Murder)(Photo: File Photo)

In August 1989, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Alleys death sentence, saying it was not imposed in arbitrary fashion, that the evidence supports the jurys findings of aggravating circumstancesand that the sentence of death was not disproportionate to the penalty in similar cases.

When the Board of Probation and Parole decided 4-3 that a reprieve should be allowed for Alley to seek DNA testing, Gov. Phil Bredesen wrote, Based on the overwhelming weight of the evidence against him, I believe Mr. Alley to be guilty of this heinous crime. However, I am acutely aware that in capital cases mistakes cannot be corrected, and so out of respect for the Boards recommendation, I am reluctantly issuing a reprieve for fifteen days.

Today, the state argued in their response to April Alleys petition that Sedley Alley already had his day in court.

He challenged his conviction and sentences many times over, they wrote. He had a full and fulsome trial followed by a direct appeal. He had a full post-conviction review.

For April Alley, according to the petition, hearing her father tell her that he had been coerced into confessing haunt(s) her to this day.

April Alley wants to know the truth, the petition reads. If her father was innocent, she wants to know who really committed the crime for the sake of everyone involved in this tragic event, and to make sure that person never commits another crime.

What Skahan, the judge, will decide is uncertain.

Barry Scheck,co-director of the Innocence Project, was unavailable for comment, and a representative of the Shelby County District Attorney Generals Office said Jones didnt want to comment.

Henry said she quit predicting what courts will do a long time ago.

Katherine Burgess covers county government, religion and the suburbs. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

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Why some believe and others reject that DNA could vindicate man executed for murder - Commercial Appeal