DNA Clears Florida Man Who Died of Cancer on Death Row

An inmate who died of cancer on death row 11 months ago has been cleared by DNA in the 1985 rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl, and an aide to Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday that he is planning similar tests for other condemned prisoners.

Frank Lee Smith died at age 52 after 14 years on death row for the slaying of Shandra Whitehead, who was raped, beaten and choked in her bedroom in Fort Lauderdale. Smith was scheduled for execution in 1990 but won a stay.

If the FBI data are accurate, Smith should not have been on death row, Bush spokeswoman Katie Baur said.

Baur said that Bush had been working closely with lawmakers and the state attorney general’s office on providing DNA testing for all death row inmates and that he planned to make an announcement about the testing plan soon.

“Over the last several months, the governor’s office has been in the process of researching a method in which that DNA test would prove their innocence,” she added.

The FBI has not written its final report on the Smith case, but prosecutor Carolyn McCann said she called the bureau earlier this week and was told: “He has been excluded. He didn’t do it.”

The girl’s family has been told, and the investigation has been reopened, McCann said, adding that the defense has presented several other suspects.

Three witnesses testified against Smith, but one later recanted her testimony.

Before his death, lawyers on both sides of the case were fighting over DNA. McCann said Smith’s lawyers wanted to have his DNA tested but wanted to keep the results to themselves.

Months after Smith’s death, an agreement was worked out, and a vial of Smith’s blood was compared with semen taken from the girl.