Death row inmate back in Wayne County court
By John Joyce
Published in News on July 12, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Death row inmate Eric Lane talks with his attorney, Michael Unti, Thursday inside the Wayne County Courthouse.
Convicted murderer Eric Glenn Lane, 43, will not appear in Wayne County Superior Court the next time his defense team returns to Goldsboro.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones said Thursday that Lane did need to be present when he ruled on several motions filed by the defense seeking further documents and DNA testing on behalf of their client.
Jones is expected to rule on the motions July 30.
Lane, convicted in 2005 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Precious Ebony Whitfield, is seeking a new trial based on the argument that physical evidence might show someone else committed the murder.
A previous round of post-conviction DNA testing of evidence not tested during Lane's 2005 trial revealed no new information. Instead, the results of the tests -- conducted by an independent laboratory, Soernsen Forensics in Salt Lake City, Utah -- eliminated all other possible matches other than Lane.
State prosecutor Nicholas Vlahos argued that the defense's motions, many of them seeking documents that should have already been turned over to them either during the initial investigation, at trial or in post-conviction hearings prior to Thursday's, were irrelevant.
Jones, in New Bern for the next few weeks, said he will take time to review case law, state statutes and the motions filed by the defense and by the state before making his ruling July 30.