No DNA testing in 1996 case

TALLAHASSEE - DNA testing cannot be done in the contract killing of citrus and cattle baron Charles Von Maxcy because evidence from the sensational 1966 case no longer exists, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The justices unanimously affirmed a trial judge's decision denying DNA testing sought by death row inmate William H. Kelley. He was convicted of killing Von Maxcy in 1984 - 18 years after the 41-year-old victim was stabbed and shot to death.

Von Maxcy's wife, Irene, had arranged through her lover, John Sweet, to have Kelley, 64, of Brockton, Mass., kill her husband. A court ordered that physical evidence be destroyed in 1976, nine years after Sweet had been convicted for his role in the murder. He did not implicate Kelley until 1981.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 00:30:32]