Inmate’s DNA Petitions Released After Being Sealed

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Acting in response to a request from The Associated Press, the district court clerk in Cheyenne has unsealed legal filings from a Wyoming inmate who maintains new DNA testing proves he's innocent of a rape charge for which he has served 23 years in prison.

The office of Laramie County's district court clerk on Wednesday had declined to allow inspection of some court filings from inmate Andrew J. Johnson. The 63-year-old man was convicted in 1989 and is serving a life sentence at the state penitentiary in Rawlins.

Johnson's lawyers filed papers in December asking a judge to allow the DNA testing, and then filed notice Tuesday that testing at a state laboratory proved he wasn't the source of biological material taken from the victim.

They asked the court to grant a new trial.