New DNA Tests Fail to Exonerate Death Row Inmate Kevin Cooper

New DNA tests sought by death row inmate who won a stay of execution just eight hours before he was due to die failed to exonerate him of the 1983 murders of four people, a prosecutor said. DNA tests indicated that hairs found on three of Kevin Cooper's alleged victims were likely their own, Deputy Attorney General Holly Wilkens said. The DNA report was submitted Friday to U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff, who ordered the tests. Cooper, who has maintained his innocence through nearly 20 years of appeals, has won support from such celebrities as Denzel Washington and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Cooper was sentenced to die in 1985 for killing Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and 11-year-old friend Christopher Hughes. Cooper, who is black, had escaped from a nearby prison days before the killing. Defense attorneys contend that three white men - who were seen in a local bar but never identified - committed the murders and that police framed Cooper. He was eight hours away from being executed in February when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted him a stay and ordered the district court to determine if additional testing of evidence was warranted. [more] Pictured above: Hundreds protested at the California State Building in San Francisco on 2/7/2004 - three days before his scheduled execution which was stayed