Grisham urges DNA test

Several former U.S. attorneys and a best-selling crime novelist are asking Gov. Rod Blagojevich to order DNA testing in the case of a Peoria man who served 30 years in prison for a crime they believe he didn't commit. Johnnie Lee Savory was just 15 when he was convicted of double murder. He was charged in 1977 with the stabbing deaths of his teenage friend and the boy's older sister. He won a new trial after an appeals court said his confession had been coerced. He walked out of prison in December 2006, still proclaiming his innocence. Led by five former U.S. attorneys, novelist John Grisham and the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions, the list of supporters represents years of effort on the part of the accused man to secure the DNA testing he says will clear his name. Savory's supporters concede a governor's mandate to test DNA may be their last and best chance to clear Savory's name.