April 14, 2016
By Paul Joseph, Paragon Communications News Director –
A special district judge has ordered DNA testing in the Jeremy Hardy case.
Hardy is the man accused of killing two people on Interstate 40 on the night of December 16, 2015.
According to a recent story in the Clinton Daily News, Special District Judge Donna Dirickson issued a ruling that will allow the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to proceed with the DNA tests.
The ruling came after Hardy’s defense attorneys objected during a two hour hearing on Tuesday of last week.
During that hearing, witnesses from the OSBI lab admitted that their tests might consume the entire DNA that’s available thus making it impossible for the defense to hire its own analyst to do an independent test.
Testimony during the hearing was heard that four swabs of DNA are available, two from the gun’s trigger and two from a back strap and that all or a portion of it could be consumed if the tests were allowed.
Dirickson ruled that the state could continue with its testing but ordered that the process be videotaped with narration explaining what was being done at each step.
Hardy is charged with murdering 45-year-old Kent Powell of Clinton in Caddo County east of Hydro and 63-year-old Billie Jean West of Lone Wolf in Custer County on or near the first exit into Weatherford on the east side of town.
The trial is being held in Custer County.
Hardy is next due in court for another preliminary hearing conference on August 5.
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