Ellis Felker was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of Evelyn Joy Ludlum
According to court documents Ellis Felker would sexually assault and murder Evelyn Joy Ludlum
Ellis Felker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Ellis Felker would be executed by way of the electric chair on November 15 1996
After his execution it was revealed that the prosecutors in the case withheld a ton of evidence that pointed to someone else being responsible for the murder of Evelyn Joy Ludlum. Chances are Ellis had nothing to do with the murder
Ellis Felker Photos
Ellis Felker Case
Three newspapers and CBS News said Wednesday that they would pay for new DNA tests on evidence from a 1981 Georgia murder case to explore whether the man executed for the crime was innocent.
If the DNA testing shows that Ellis Wayne Felker did not rape and kill 19-year-old Evelyn Joy Ludlam, it would be the first time DNA evidence exonerated an American inmate who was put to death. DNA evidence has cleared eight death row inmates.
Felker, executed in 1996, claimed he was innocent.
The Boston Globe, the Macon Telegraph, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CBS are calling for new DNA tests on evidence in the murder of the college student, whose body was dumped in a creek.
“We’ve been very interested, like other news organizations, in finding a case where perhaps a man was wrongfully executed,” said Ben Bradlee Jr., the editor overseeing the project for the Globe. “If this could be proven, it could dramatically alter the terms of the death penalty debate.”
The tests would be run on material that authorities still have, including Ludlam’s and Felker’s hair, scrapings from under Ludlam’s fingernails and hair found in Felker’s house.
Kelly Burke, district attorney in Houston County, where the case was prosecuted, said the examination is a waste of time.
Even so, Burke said he expected to approve the new tests, and the evidence could leave his office as early as Friday for a lab in California. The results could come back in several weeks.
Advances in DNA testing have been at the forefront of the national debate of the fairness of the death penalty. Opponents of capital punishment have called for measures to give death row inmates more access to post-conviction DNA testing; even many death penalty supporters say such tests should be used to eliminate any doubt about convicts’ guilt.
Last month, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a death penalty supporter, stopped the execution of Ricky McGinn until evidence found on the victim, his stepdaughter, could be tested. Preliminary results failed to clear McGinn, but more tests are planned, according to published reports
Felker was connected to the Georgia murder through hair fibers found in his home and on the victim. He was found guilty in 1983 and sentenced to death.
Years later, Felker’s lawyers asked a court to delay his execution so they could run a DNA analysis. The court rejected the request, saying it came too late.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2000/07/27/dna-test-sought-in-executed-inmate-s-case/