Repository / Michael S. Balash Charles Elkins, father of Clarence Elkins, hugs his daughter-in-law, Melinda, following a press conference Thursday to discuss evidence family members believe clears Clarence in a murder and rape conviction.

AKRON -- The Summit County prosecutor’s office plans to review claims that new DNA evidence clears Clarence Elkins of killing and raping his mother-in-law and brutally beating his niece.

Lawyers for Elkins contend the DNA evidence proves another former Barberton resident — 32-year-old Earl Gene Mann — committed the crimes.

And Clarence Elkins is the person who collected the evidence — a cigarette butt — that points toward Mann as the possible killer.

It’s the latest in a series of bids by Elkins’ family to overturn his 1999 conviction on murder, attempted murder, three counts of rape and felonious assault. Several appeals have been rejected, although one request for a new trial is pending.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said Thursday that her office is happy to work with the new information.

“Clearly, we’ve reviewed other things in the past they’ve brought forward that we didn’t find credible, and two other judges agreed with us, as well as the court of appeals,” Walsh said in a statement.

Elkins’ defense team is confident the case has been solved.

“This evidence proves that he is innocent,” said Mark A. Godsey, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati and director for the Ohio Innocence Project.

Godsey said he hopes Walsh will help. “For the first time, we have somebody listening to us from this office.”

A jury convicted Elkins, now 42, of the June 1998 murder and rape of Judith Johnson, his mother-in-law, and the beating and rape of his then-6-year-old niece.

Prosecutors relied on testimony from the young girl, who told police the attacker looked like her uncle Clarence. Elkins and his wife, Melinda, argued that he had been home in Magnolia the night of the murder.

Since the conviction, Elkins’ family has searched for another suspect in the killing.

Earlier this year, the lawyers argued Elkins was innocent because DNA evidence showed he wasn’t at the murder scene. A bid for a new trial was rejected. That case now is pending in appeals court.

Godsey and Jana DeLoach, an Akron lawyer helping Elkins, said the defense team has considered five or six potential suspects in the case. Some were already eliminated.

Godsey said Melinda Elkins pegged Mann as a suspect, but didn’t explain why. Mann has been a suspect for some time, although the defense team didn’t say how long.

“My only regret was that he wasn’t higher on the list and that we didn’t test him first,” DeLoach said.

As it turned out, Mann recently landed in the Toledo Corrections Center in the same section where Elkins is being held. That opened the chance to get his DNA.

Mann first went to prison in 1999 after being indicted in a robbery and assault case. He pleaded guilty and received a 3½-year sentence.

In 2001, while Mann was in prison, three girls accused him of rape and sexual assault. The incidents occurred in June and October 1998 and January 1999. In May 2002, Mann pleaded guilty on those counts and received another seven years in prison.

DeLoach said she and Elkins formed the plan to get a cigarette butt from Mann. Elkins recently obtained a cigarette butt, mailed it to DeLoach, and she sent it for testing. DNA from the cigarette was compared with material on a vaginal swab from Johnson and the underwear worn by the young girl. The DNA from the cigarette butt matched identically with DNA collected from the crime scene, Godsey said.

“I know it seems bizarre, but it’s wonderfully bizarre,” DeLoach said. “There’s no way to fake a DNA test.”

Godsey also contends that Mann and Elkins look alike, which matches testimony from the young girl.

Elkins’ lawyers said they never asked Mann to provide DNA, nor did they contact Mann’s lawyer or any police investigators.

The Elkins team took several shots at the police investigation, claiming investigators bungled the effort and destroyed possible evidence. Godsey said Barberton police had “tunnel vision” and never considered anyone other than Elkins as a suspect.

“We’re in a situation where the police were refusing to investigate,” Godsey said.

Melinda Elkins compared the case to a roller coaster ride. On Thursday she was happy, and said she expects the ride to end soon.

“We had family support,” Melinda said. “But nobody on the outside would listen to me.”

Now they should, she said. “This DNA is a match. What else is there to say.”

You can reach Repository writer Edd Pritchard at (330) 580-8484 or e-mail:

edd.pritchard@cantonrep.com