Published: November 10, 2008 09:10 am      

Murderer seeks DNA testing

Partin seeks new testing methods on Tremco Plant murder evidence

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Knox County Circuit Court is considering a motion filed by Delmar Partin in the 15-year-old murder of a coworker seeking DNA testing of evidence.

Partin, then a laboratory technician at what was the Tremco Plant in Barbourville, seeks state payment for DNA testing of hair found as evidence in the murder of Betty Carnes.

Carnes’ body was found Sept. 23, 1993, in a 55-gallon barrel at the plant. She was also a technician in the laboratory with Partin.

Partin filed the “pro se” motion on his own without aide of counsel.

The motion claims that since Partin’s conviction in 1994 he has learned that new methods of DNA extraction can now allow accurate DNA testing on the hair.

Partin asked in his Sept. 17 motion that since he could not afford an attorney he is entitled to the same protection as a defendant with funds to have the hair tested for DNA.

The hair in question was said to have been found in a trash can at the home of Partin.

Partin said in his motion that the hair found in the trash was the only reason he was convicted.

According to reports, Carnes’ body found in the barrel was badly beaten and decapitated and an autopsy showed evidence of blunt force trauma.

According to a source in the court system, the law on which Partin has based his request is for those who have been sentenced to death. Partin was not sentenced to death. He said the motion would probably be denied if Partin is relying on that.

And, the source said since the hair as evidence is not newly discovered, the motion would probably also be denied.

Partin can become eligible for parole in about 10 years.