VAN WERT, Ohio (WLIO) — DNA testing in a 40-year-old murder case may move forward after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal seeking to block the testing.
Just before Christmas, the state’s highest court announced it would not take up the case, clearing the way for attorneys representing John Spirko to have evidence tested by an outside laboratory in the 1982 murder of Betty Jane Mottinger.
The Van Wert County Prosecutor’s Office had filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing the state should have the right to challenge a Van Wert County Common Pleas Court order requiring that evidence be turned over for testing. With the appeal declined, the lower court’s order remains in effect.
Spirko has been incarcerated since 1984 in connection with Mottinger’s death. He has agreed to pay for DNA testing on several pieces of evidence, including duct tape from the crime scene, a hunting knife that was found, and other items recovered near the victim’s body.Â
Mottinger was working at the Elgin Post Office in 1982 when she was killed during a robbery.
