Innocent man?

The Rocky Mountain Innocence Center in Salt Lake City has done some great work. The pro bono legal firm, which exists “to correct and prevent wrongful convictions of innocent people in Utah, Nevada and Wyoming,” has in recent years succeeded in using DNA evidence to free a handful of men and women who were serving heavy time for serious crimes they didn’t commit.

But the group is now raising eyebrows in a case involving a convicted Nevada killer.

For the past five years, the center has championed the cause of Scott Sloan, who has spent 32 years in a Nevada prison for the 1984 rape and murder of Nancy Menke, a Las Vegas cosmetics saleswoman. Sloan was just 16 years old at the time and maintains his innocence, Review-Journal reporter David Ferrara noted in a Monday story.

Forensic science has made great strides since the 1980s. But even after prosecutors announced in 2009 that tests had found Sloan’s semen inside the victim, the attorneys at the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center continued to push for more state-of-the art lab work in the case.

District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti agreed in March to that request, despite objections from prosecutors. But Sloan’s attorney, Cynthia Alexander, never drew up the papers necessary to move forward with the testing. Three weeks later, Sloan appeared via video-conference for his 11th parole hearing, but was eventually denied his release.

Parole boards generally look askance at prisoners who fail to accept responsibility for their crimes.

At any rate, Ms. Alexander was back in court last week and told Judge Togliatti that her client no longer wants the new tests but seeks to reserve the right to renew his petition at any time.

“I just want to make sure I understand what’s happening,” the judge said about the developments. “You filed the post-conviction petition to deal with genetic marker testing … I tried to order every record known to man. I make a ruling in your favor, and now you don’t want it?”

All this has triggered the ire of David Stanton, a Clark County chief deputy district attorney who has worked the case for more than six years and calls the evidence against Sloan “overwhelming.” Mr. Stanton argues that the innocence center “didn’t vet this case. They don’t know what they’re talking about. … The abuse of this process does violence to the people out there who have legitimate actual innocence claims.”

He’s right. It’s certainly true that one innocent man or woman behind bars is one too many. But the attorneys for the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center seem intent on manipulating the system here with little regard for the taxpayers or the victim’s surviving family members.

If Sloan’s lawyers believe further testing will exonerate their client, they should be rushing to obtain the results for the tests authorized by Judge Togliatti. Further delay makes no sense. Unless, of course, they’re coming to the realization that not all convicted killers who insist upon their innocence are actually telling the truth.