Tennessee inmate seeks execution halt over DNA evidence

By TRAVIS LOLLER
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee death row inmate is asking the state Supreme Court to vacate his execution date so that an appeals court can review new evidence in his case. Oscar Smith was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting his estranged wife and her teenage sons on Oct. 1, 1989. Earlier this month, Smith asked a Davidson County Criminal Court judge to reopen his case after a new type of DNA analysis found the DNA of an unknown person on one of the murder weapons. The judge denied that request and Smith has appealed. But there isn’t much time for the court to hear that appeal. Smith is scheduled to receive a lethal injection April 21.