The motion heard Wednesday was filed recently by the New York-based Innocence Project and sought testing of crime scene evidence to support Swearingen's claims of innocence for the 1999 murder of 19-year-old college student Melissa Trotter.
The motion follows a 2011 Texas law that provides the right to conduct testing on any crime scene that can yield evidence of innocence.
At the time of the request, Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, said: "The Texas Legislature has made it clear that DNA testing should be allowed when there is a possibility it could help prove innocence, and the testing Mr. Swearingen is seeking could shed light on many unanswered questions in this case."
Swearingen was convicted in 2000 in Trotter's death and since filed three unsuccessful motions for DNA testing.
Texas has been accused of executing innocent people before. Some people don't mind. The Supreme Court has ruled that actual innocence does not guarantee a convicted person a new trial. This is touchy stuff.
