Robert Steven Wright testified in his own defence today in the stabbing death of Renée Sweeney. He was questioned by his attorney, Michael Lacy.
Wright is on trial for the second-degree murder of Renée Sweeney, a 23-year-old woman who was murdered on Jan. 27, 1998, while she was at work at the Adults Only Video, located in the plaza at 1500 Paris St. She was stabbed 27 times and bled to death.
Within a few weeks of her death, a man named John Fetterly was arrested, as an officer testified at this trial that he mistakenly identified Fetterly’s fingerprint on the scene. Fetterly was released, with an apology, the day after he was arrested.
After many years with no leads, and a consistent plea from law enforcement for anyone with tips to contact them, Wright was arrested in 2018 after new technology allowed for the isolation and comparison of DNA sourced from Sweeney’s fingernails. Wright could not be excluded as the source of that DNA.
He has been incarcerated since, having been denied bail four times.
There is more to come in this story.
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