Ballistics questioned in 1993 Rockford murder

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - A Rockford man serving a life sentence for murder is in Winnebago County court seeking a new trial based on tests he says show a gun linked to him wasn't used in the crime.

The Rockford Register-Star reports (http://bit.ly/2hnIbc7 ) that California ballistics expert John Murdock testified Monday that neither the cartridges nor the bullets recovered from the scene of the 1993 killing came from a gun linked to 51-year-old Patrick Pursley.

Pursley was convicted in 1994 of the murder of 22-year-old Andrew Ascher.

Steve Drizin of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University says ballistics evidence alone convicted Pursley. He says "There was no confession, no eye witness."

The center says a firearms expert at Pursley's initial trial "overreached his testimony."

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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com