A 50-year old Akron man who has served 17 years of a life sentence for an Akron murder has claimed all along he didn't commit the crime.

Now The Columbus Dispatch reports new lab test results show that DNA recovered from the murder scene didn't come from Dewey Jones. Jones predicted during a prison interview last year that DNA testing would show he was not a murderer.

Jones was convicted in March of 1995 for robbing and killing 71-year-old Neal Rankin, who was considered a family friend. Rankin was found dead in his home on Independence Avenue in North Akron. The victim was shot twice in the head at his home on Feb. 13, 1993.      

“I’ve done some things I’m not proud of in life and made some bad choices," Jones told The Dispatch from the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield. “But I’ve not hurt or killed anyone.”

The tests, conducted by DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield, north of Cincinnati, found a partial male DNA profile on the piece of rope used to tie Rankin's wrists, the knife used to cut the rope and pieces of Rankin’s shirt sleeves. None of it matched Jones when compared to his DNA.

Attorneys from the Ohio Innocence Project, who are representing Dewey Jones, believe the results prove Jones’ innocence and want him set him free.

On the web : The Columbus Dispatch