A man Killed without being tested for DNA...How?
Updated: Nov 14, 2019
After more than two decades on Georgia’s
death row and exhaustion of years of appeals to the state's and nation's highest courts, continuously pleading for new DNA Forensic testing that was not done. On things as:
• Shell casing collected at the Madison Street Deli crime scene.
• Black knitted cap found near the Madison Street Deli crime scene, presumed to be the cap worn by the shooter in surveillance video.
• Green hooded sweatshirt found near the Madison Street Deli crime scene, presumed to be the sweatshirt worn by the shooter in the surveillance video.
• Two shell casings collected at the Junior Food Store crime scene.
• Basic Lights cigarette pack found near the body of the deceased at the Junior Food Store.
• Handle section of the Budweiser beer case found on the ground outside the Junior Food Store.
• Two Budweiser beer cans found outside the Junior Food Store.
• The .25-caliber Raven Arms pistol and magazine recovered from where Gary Young threw the firearm near train tracks between Cherokee Homes and the Jail-Justice Center.
• Clothing recovered from suspects in the case, including Gary Young, Corey Clark, Thaddeus Lucas and Cromartie.
• Cut portion of victim Slysz’s short sleeve with blood on it.
Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was convicted of malice murder in the death of convenience store clerk Richard Slysz. The shooting happened while Cromartie and another man tried to steal beer in Thomas County, near the Georgia-Florida state line, authorities said.
Ray Jefferson Cromartie was executed without DNA testing, on Wednesday night at 10:59 pm. Cromartie, who claimed he didn’t kill Slysz, up until his last breath, died by lethal injection. Cromartie’s Lawyer Shawn Nolan felt that the new test would show he was not the shooter.
Authorities had said Cromartie shot Slysz while he and another man robbed the store in April 1994, and that a different man served as a getaway driver. Both of Cromartie's co-defendants were sentenced to prison time and were released in the 2000’s.
The driver recently said in a court filing that he'd overheard the other robber claim that he, not Cromartie, shot Slysz. State officials argued the new claim didn't matter because the driver didn't see the shooting, the AJC reported.
The identity of the shooter was a significant issue in this case, yet quick action was taken to continue murdering an innocent man.
According to Cncpunishment.com One of the motions to appeal and request for DNA testing said, “It is only by subjecting the evidence to DNA testing that (Mr.) Cromartie can demonstrate that he did not shoot the victims.”
Despite all of these requests for DNA Forensic testing so a innocent man could be acquitted of a crime he didn’t commit. All request were denied. A judge even went as far as saying he was only trying to appeal to post pone his death.
An odd additive to this case is Richard Slysz's daughter, Elizabeth Legette, had supported Cromartie's request for DNA testing. She even went on to make a statement saying:
"In the course of the past few months, I have not been treated with fairness, dignity, or respect, and people in power have refused to listen to what I had to say," Legette said in a statement released Tuesday, according to the AJC. "I believe this was, in part, because I was not saying what I was expected to say as a victim."
In a statement published by the ajc.com
Cromartie's attorney, Shawn Nolan released a statement that said,
“In this day and age, where DNA testing is routine, it is shocking that Georgia decided to end this man's life without allowing us, his attorneys, access to the materials to do these simple tests.”
It seems as if killing is a vendetta and is done by any means necessary even if proven innocent of the crime accused. Everyone deserves a fair trial. Tax dollars kill again.