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A judge has approved DNA testing of key evidence in the 1982 murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, reopening questions in the decades-old conviction of John Spirko.
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The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision not to hear an appeal allows DNA testing to proceed in the decades-old murder case of Betty Jane Mottinger.
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The Ohio Supreme Court may review a Van Wert County case involving John Spirko, convicted in the 1984 murder of postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger, after a lower court granted DNA testing of key evidence.
A forty-year-old murder case is being revisited with modern DNA testing technology. A Van Wert County judge has granted John Spirko the opportunity to have evidence in the Betty Jane Mottinger murder case tested by a Virginia laboratory.
Evidence in a 40-year-old murder case could be reexamined for possible DNA that could exonerate the person convicted of the crime. Van Wert County judge Martin Burchfield has ordered that an inventory of the evidence in the case against 78-year-old John Spirko be made by the Van Wert and Hancock County Sheriff's Offices and the United States postal inspectors. The agencies have until the end of January 2025 to comply with his order.