Appeals Court Denies Request to Reopen Smith’s Case - Articles

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Appeals Court Denies Request to Reopen Smith’s Case

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 18, 2022

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last week that Oscar Smith, 71, had “not presented new scientific evidence establishing that he is actually innocent of the murders of the victims,” the Tennessean reports. Smith’s legal team has asked the court to reopen the case after DNA from an unknown person was detected on one of the murder weapons. The trial court previously rejected the request. Smith’s public defender had filed a motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court earlier in the day Thursday seeking a stay of execution so the appellate court could have time to consider the motions. In the opinion, Judge Timothy Easter said that given the other evidence in the case there was not a “reasonable probability that the recently discovered DNA evidence would have prevented ... prosecution or conviction.” Smith is scheduled to die by lethal injection on April 21. He was convicted in 1990 of fatally stabbing and shooting his estranged wife and her two teenage sons.