May 23, 2008, 9:57PM
DNA clears man whose conviction led to `Ashley's Laws'


By LINDA STEWART BALL
Associated Press

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DALLAS — Prosecutors said Friday that new testing of DNA evidence no longer connects a man sent to death row for a 1993 child slaying that led to the creation of tough sex offender laws, and a state district judge recommended a new trial.

Collin County prosecutors stopped short of saying Michael Blair is innocent of killing strangling and molesting 7-year-old Ashley Estell. But they said evidence used in his 1994 conviction no longer holds up, and acknowledged that another man may have committed the crime.

"There is no good faith argument to support the current conviction in light of the facts and the law as they now exist," Collin County District Attorney John Roach said in a statement.

State District Judge Webb Biard recommended Friday that Blair be granted a new trial and have his sentence set aside. The case now proceeds to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Blair will remain in prison no matter the outcome. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in the sexual assaults of other children in the early 1990s.

Ashley Estell's death prompted state lawmakers to pass tough sexual-predator measures called "Ashley's Laws" that require longer prison terms and public registration for sex offenders.

Attorneys for Blair presented prosecutors with evidence in 2000 that they said proved their client's innocence.

"This should have happened eight years ago," said Roy Greenwood, Blair's attorney.

Although Roach noted that another person may be the child's killer, Greenwood said that because that suspect is dead he does not expect prosecutors to exhume the body to pursue that aspect.

Investigators found Male DNA on each of Estell's shoes after the Plano girl was found dead. But court records showed neither of the two profiles matched Blair, a former soccer referee.

DNA material from a male also was found on her shirt but was insufficient for any comparison. And testing on a stuffed toy rabbit found in Blair's car when he was arrested didn't yield male DNA.

The latest tests were conducted last year. Other tests previously performed on tissue taken from the victim's fingernails and hair found on the child also have failed to match Blair.

"Troubling questions about our criminal justice are raised any time DNA testing shows that someone on death row is innocent," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that consulted on the case. "But in this case, the community rushed to judgment because Michael Blair had a record as a sex offender — while the apparent real perpetrator, who had no record, evaded justice."

At the time of the slaying, Blair was on parole after serving only 18 months of a 10-year sentence for burglary and indecency with a child.

Last month, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals asked a trial court to determine the significance of new DNA testing in the Blair case.




http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 99134.html