Judge allows DNA test in Riddle case

Before accused murderer Ernest Riddle's retrial is held, at least one piece of evidence will be sent for a new type of DNA testing, the presiding judge ruled in an order handed down earlier this week.

Riddle is accused of murder in the August 1985 stabbing death of Abbie Sue Mullinax inside her home at 205 Concord Ave. Investigators contend he killed the startled woman when she discovered him burglarizing her home. Riddle was convicted and sentenced to death but the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2006 over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Gearing up for a retrial, Riddle's defense attorneys were seeking new scientific tests on some old pieces of evidence, specifically a new form of DNA testing called "touch" DNA.

In an order handed down Oct. 21, Circuit Judge Cordell Maddox Jr. directed prosecutors and police to make arrangements to transfer samples and clippings from a doormat seized the night of the murder to Bode Technology, a laboratory in Virginia.

According to other court documents, the doormat was found at a Birch Street home where three people were knocking to get inside about an hour after Mullinax was killed. Defense Attorneys have claimed in court documents Riddle was not among the three people knocking on the door of the Birch Street home and that one of the people was bleeding. Blood allegedly was found on the doormat.

Judge Maddox noted in his ruling that both prosecutors and defense attorneys would have equal access to Bode Technology's reports and equal ability to inquire about the status of the testing.