(VAN WERT COUNTY, Ohio) - A Van Wert County judge has ordered DNA testing on evidence tied to the 1982 murder of postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger, giving a longtime inmate a new chance to challenge his conviction.
The testing order applies to evidence used in the conviction of 79-year-old John Spirko, who has spent more than 40 years in prison and at one time faced the death penalty.
The Ohio Innocence Project is representing Spirko in his effort to overturn the conviction.
Spirko has long maintained that he did not kill Mottinger, and his legal team argues the new DNA testing could help prove his innocence.
The case centers on the 1982 killing of Betty Jane Mottinger, a longtime postmaster in Van Wert County whose murder became one of the region's most closely watched cases.
The newly ordered testing marks a significant legal step as the court reexamines evidence from a case that has remained unresolved in public debate for decades.