District Attorney Paul Connick has agreed that Ryan Matthews, a juvenile offender on Louisiana’s death row, deserves a new trial. Matthews has maintained his innocence since his arrest. Attorneys for Matthews will use the retrial as an opportunity to present new DNA evidence that they believe exonerates their client. Testing of seven DNA profiles gathered as part of key evidence in the case excludes Matthews as the offender, and several point to the guilt of another man, Rondell Love. After Matthews was arrested, Love was convicted of another murder that occurred near the scene of the murder for which Matthews was convicted. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, said, “District Attorney Paul Connick pursued every test that could have helped to decide this case. These all point to Ryan Matthews’ innocence. Mr. Connick has evaluated the results in an honorable and fair way. I applaud his decision today. This is the way that the system ought to work.” (Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2004 and Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center Press Release). See Innocence. See Juvenile Death Penalty.