JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --
A death-row inmate says inconclusive DNA results in the 1977 murder for which he was convicted should be enough to vindicate him and has asked the Florida Supreme Court to stay his execution.
Amos King, 48, has received three stays in the past year, the last on Dec. 2 when he was 90 minutes from receiving a lethal injection. His execution is now set for 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Gov. Jeb Bush granted the stay to allow DNA tests that might clear King of raping and murdering Natalie Brady, 68, in her Tarpon Springs home in 1977. Bush lifted the stay when the tests yielded no new evidence.
``I was just looking over the DNA testing results I regard as further evidence of my innocence through the results are inconclusive to nonexistent,'' King wrote in a letter to The Associated Press.
Three hairs and scrapings recovered from under the victim's fingernails were tested, as were the victim's nightgown and a pair of knitting needles used in the attack.
``All other evidence has been tested and no evidence demonstrating Mr. King's guilt or innocence has been found. Mr. King's conviction is in serious question,'' said Peter Cannon, King's attorney.
Cannon also argued that the state had destroyed evidence, such as vaginal washings.
Prosecutors called Cannon's argument ``outrageously editorialized.'' Florida leads the nation with 24 death-row inmates freed since 1975 after their convictions were overturned by new evidence or legal arguments. DNA testing helped lead to the release of one of those inmates. It also cleared another, but he had already died of cancer while in prison.
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