A three-judge panel of the Connecticut Appellate Court has rejected the appeal of a convicted murderer who challenged DNA evidence that led to his arrest and the exoneration of another man who served two decades in prison for the killing.
Former New York City resident Kevin Benefield, sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of Barbara Pelkey that happened in 1986, argued that consent he gave authorities that year to test his saliva did not give them permission in 2009 to retest the saliva using a DNA test that didn't exist in 1986.
Kevin Benefield was given the maximum sentence after being convicted of murdering Barbara Pelkey in 1986. Her children addressed the court today, sharing how their lives were devastated. Amy Pelkey said quote “not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and how she suffered.” Police say Pelkey was raped then beaten to death at her Wallingford job....
The judges on the state's second-highest court ruled Monday that Benefield's 1986 consent was wide-ranging with no time limits.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
