Ellis Wayne Felker
Ellis Wayne Felker was a convicted murderer who is presumed by anti-death penalty advocates as being one of many innocent persons who have been executed in the USA.
History
Ellis Wayne Felker was a suspect in the 1981 disappearance of a Georgia woman, Joy Ludlum. He was put under police survelliance for 2 weeks, during which time, Ludlum's body was found in a creek, raped & murdered.
Cover-Up
An autopsy performed by an untrained technician determined that Ludlum had been dead for 5 days when found. Realizing that this finding would eliminate Felker as a suspect due to his surveillance, the findings were changed. Later study of the autopsy notes by independent analysis showed that Ludlum had been dead no more than 3 days when found.
After Felker's conviction, it came to light that prosecutors had illegally withheld boxes upon boxes of evidence, including possible DNA samples of the perpetrator and a signed confession made by another suspect. The District Attorney in charge denied under oath that such evidence existed, and the presiding judge at one of Felker's hearing stated that Felker's right to a fair trial had been severely compromised.
Execution
Despite all the mounting evidence and doubts of his guilt, the Georgia State Supreme Court refused to order a new trail or even grant a stay long enough to sort through the mountains of paperwork in the case that had been withheld allowing the defense time to investigate the case further for possible exoneration.
Felker's execution was delayed during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta and he was eventually executed on November 15, 1996.
Exoneration
In 2000, a Georgia judge ruled that DNA testing would be performed in the first-ever attempt to exonerate an executed person in the USA. The results were ruled as inconclusive; however, this finding alone may have been enough to grant a new trial if not total exoneration and release.