Söring isn't afraid a judge will say no to new DNA tests. He's afraid a judge will say yes.

"There's tons of evidence from the case which has never been tested", say podcasters who tried for years to convince Söring to agree to new tests.

The American news and discussion show CBS Mornings just released these two videos about the years-long quest by the journalists of “Small Town, Big Crime” to get Jens Söring to agree to DNA testing. Overall, it’s reasonably accurate but the reporter, Nikki Battiste, made a serious error in the second video at timestamp 2:16, reporting that Söring asked for DNA testing in 2009. This is wrong, the DNA tests from 2009 were conducted by the State of Virginia as part of the Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Notification program, which you can read about here (.pdf). Söring did not request these tests and had no control over them.

I have already contacted Battiste to point out the error, I am sure she will correct it.

The rest basically re-hashes points already made, but with a slight new twist. Söring says he can’t sign the testing request because he cannot “swear” that the evidence has been properly preserved and there is an unbroken chain of custody, as the testing statute requires. Current Bedford County District Attorney Wes Nance, agrees that Söring cannot swear to this particular point, but suggests a simple solution: Söring can file the motion but add a reservation saying he can’t swear to the chain of custody and lack of contamination. Nance will accept that and will agree to the tests.

Then the judge can decide whether to approve the testing request even though one requirement hasn’t been met. Nance adds there is no doubt about Söring’s guilt, as he was convicted based on the highest standard in American law and all his appeals failed. “How many bites at the apple does he have?” Nance’s stance (it rhymes!) is understandable: Not my circus, not my monkeys, as the Polish saying goes. The case is closed, Söring’s gone and will never come back. Murderers often claim innocence and always get some naive supporters to believe them. Nance has more important fish to fry. He either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that Söring is still trumpeting his innocence, trashing the Virginia justice system, and pouncing on Nance’s own statements to support his arguments.

Söring, for his part, says that his lawyers have advised him not to request the testing. Battiste says Söring “spent a significant amount of time with his lawyers” trying to figure out “how to do DNA testing, but concluded it was not legally possible”. He sure gives up easily! The CBS Mornings panel concludes with one of the co-hosts showing justifiable bafflement: First he says he wants DNA testing, now he doesn’t, what is going on here? Does he want it or not? Battiste notes that her own reporting has just shown that asking for DNA testing would have “no legal ramifications” for him: He will not be prosecuted for perjury, and the judge can simply decide whether to authorize it. The worst that can happen is the judge says no.

Söring, predictably, has trumpeted the piece on his Facebook page:

Söring is overjoyed because Battiste’s mistake makes it appear that Söring actually requested DNA testing in 2009 which was carried out, which is false. Of course, Soring doesn’t explain why, after an explicit promise from Wes Nance that applying for testing will have no negative legal consequences, he still won’t do it.

I’ve long predicted that Jens Söring will never request DNA testing on the evidence in his case, and my prediction still stands. Söring is in a bind here which is only going to get tighter and tighter. As time goes by, more and more people will wonder why Söring hasn’t even requested DNA testing, despite the fact he can do so anytime he likes, and the worst that can happen is a refusal. Also as time goes by, DNA technology improves by leaps and bounds, enabling laboratories to derive reliable profiles even from degraded and contaminated 20,000-year-old samples. If modern DNA techniques can generate reliable profiles from 20,000-year-old necklaces, surely they can do the same for 38-year-old crime scene samples, ne c’est pas?

All Söring can come up with are excuses, which get more and more baroque and contradictory. There is only one logical explanation for Söring’s tergiversations — which baffled the CBS Morning panel — and for his refusal to even submit a testing motion regardless of the outcome:

Söring isn’t afraid a judge will deny DNA testing. He’s afraid a judge will grant it.