MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Anthony M. Spears has spent the last seven
          years on death row for fatally shooting a woman in the desert
          outside Mesa and making off with her truck, her guns and her cash.

          He insists he didn't do it. And now an expert forensic entomologist
          says the evidence supports Spears' claim of innocence, the Tribune,
          a newspaper serving suburban Phoenix, reported today.

          Bug biology could refute the Jan. 4, 1992, date of death for Jeanette
          Beaulieu, a 38-year-old bookkeeper. The maggots that infested
          Beaulieu's body when it was found Jan. 19 indicate she died no
          earlier than Jan. 9, said David Faulkner, head of the entomology
          department at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

          ``My gut feeling is that with the maggots that I was able to recover
          from the body bag, from the evidence that was retained, that given
          the temperature in that particular area and the time of year ... that
          the body could not have been there, say, three weeks,'' said
          Faulkner, who has studied insects at crime scenes since 1981.

          Spears returned home to California on Jan. 4 and remained there
          until police arrested him Jan. 25. He claimed Beaulieu had signed
          over her truck and given him her guns to sell for her during a brief
          visit.

          Faulkner's findings are encouraging to the forewoman of the jury
          that convicted Spears in 1992.

          The day after the verdict, Janet Kovach wrote the judge to recant
          her guilty vote, claiming fellow jurors had bullied her. Then she
          went to see Anthony Spears.

          Two years later, they married.

          ``There's at least enough to say, let's look at this again. I'm asking
          you again to please take another look at this,'' she told the
          newspaper.

          Spears filed a motion Monday with the state Supreme Court to get
          the new evidence heard. The state will file its own response in a
          week or so.

          The medical examiner in the case admitted he had no specific
          training in entomology. But the state is skeptical of the new bug
          evidence.

          ``We're always interested, and they can pursue these types of
          claims,'' said Kent Cattani, chief of the state's death penalty appeals
          unit. ``The fact he's an expert doesn't mean he establishes the point
          for either side.

          ``You consider an expert's opinion in light of all the other evidence
          in the case. If you have an expert that comes in and says the moon
          is made of cheese, it doesn't carry all the weight. We look at all the
          evidence.'

A man awaiting execution on Arizona's death row is pinning one of his final attempts at salvation on a
bunch of unlikely saviors: maggots.

Anthony Spears, 41, convicted of murdering Jeanette Beaulieu and dumping her body in the desert, has
maintained his innocence since his 1992 arrest. Now he's hoping a study of the maggots found on her
body can save him.

Originally scheduled to die June 28, Spears was given a stay of execution on June 2 to pursue appeals.

Beaulieu's body was found in Jan. 1992 at a shooting range east of Phoenix. She had been shot in the
back of the head. Based on the decomposition of her body, a medical examiner put the murder date at
Jan. 4.

However, forensic entomologist David Faulkner—who recently examined the flesh-eating maggots found
crushed and preserved in Beaulieu's clothing—says the date of death is more likely between Jan. 10 and
12.

Spears was at home near San Diego on those dates.

Faulkner, who is head of the entomology department at the San Diego Natural History Museum,
said the maggots couldn't have been much older than 10 days when they were mummified in clothing removed from the victim shortly after her body was found.

That would rule out Jan. 4 as a possible date for the murder unless the body was frozen at some point,
he said.

With capital punishment under growing national scrutiny, the case is a twist on more traditional avenues
of appeal, including DNA testing of evidence.

Studying the life span and development of insects found at crime scenes can help determine the date of
a victim's death.

A second forensic entomologist, Dr. Rich Merritt of Michigan State University, is scheduled to view the
maggot samples next week.

Lawyers for Spears will have to submit the new maggot theory to the trial court if they hope to win his
freedom.

The samples were not studied during Spears' 1992 trial. Faulkner and Merritt were hired to look at Beaulieu's case by friends of Spears' wife, Janet—who married Spears after serving as the foreman of the jury that convicted him.

Though the jury unanimously convicted Spears of first-degree murder, Janet Spears said she was never convinced and told the judge she'd made a mistake the day after the verdict was read.

Spears was sentenced to death in 1993.
                                                                        
                                                                                            Anthony Spears Courtesy Arizona DOC

Pati Urias, a spokeswoman for the Arizona attorney general, said Spears' conviction was fair.

Althogh Spears was not in Arizona when Faulkner says Beaulieu was killed, Jan. 10-12, he was in the
state on Jan. 4, the day the state says she was killed. The state said Spears motive was robbery.

He had flown to Phoenix on Jan. 2 with a one-way airline ticket purchased by the 39-year-old Beaulieu,
and he brought a 9mm handgun with him, according to court documents.

A shell casing determined to be from that gun was found among the thousands of others at the shooting
range a week-and-a-half after Beaulieu's body was found.

Spears drove back to California on Jan. 4 in a truck he bought from Beaulieu. San Diego authorities
found a notarized title from Beaulieu in the glove compartment.

The little critters may also be saving lives in the field of criminal investigation. In a June 6, 2000 story from Associated Press, it was reported that a man who has spent seven years on death row, and who was scheduled for execution on June 28, 2000, may be exonerated thanks to maggot evidence.
Anthony M. Spears was convicted of fatally shooting a woman outside Mesa, Arizona. He insists he's innocent of the murder of Jeanette Beaulieu, whose body was found on January 19, infested with maggots.   David Faulkner, head of the entomology department at the San Diego Natural History Museum examined the maggots and concluded that, based on their larval development, the victim died no earlier than January 9.   Anthony Spears left Arizona and was home in California on January 4. The forensic entomology evidence was strong enough to make the forewoman of the jury that convicted Spears recant her guilty vote and claim that fellow jurors had bullied her.  At last report, Mr. Spears is still appealing his conviction.

He insists he didn't do it. And now an expert forensic entomologist says the evidence supports Spears' claim of innocence, the Tribune, a newspaper serving suburban Phoenix, reported today.

Bug biology could refute the Jan. 4, 1992, date of death for Jeanette Beaulieu, a 38-year-old bookkeeper. The maggots that infested Beaulieu's body when it was found Jan. 19 indicate she died no earlier than Jan. 9, said David Faulkner, head of the entomology department at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

"My gut feeling is that with the maggots that I was able to recover from the body bag, from the evidence that was retained, that given the temperature in that particular area and the time of year ... that the
body could not have been there, say, 3 weeks," said Faulkner, who has studied insects at crime scenes since 1981.

Juror marries her convict

Spears returned home to California on Jan. 4 and remained there until police arrested him Jan. 25. He claimed Beaulieu had signed over her truck and given him her guns to sell for her during a brief visit.

Faulkner's findings are encouraging to the forewoman of the jury that convicted Spears in 1992.

The day after the verdict, Janet Kovach wrote the judge to recant her guilty vote, claiming fellow jurors had bullied her. Then she went to see Anthony Spears.   Two years later, they married.

"There's at least enough to say, let's look at this again. I'm asking you again to please take another look at this," she told the newspaper.

State leery of buggy evidence

Spears filed a motion Monday with the state Supreme Court to get the new evidence heard. The state will file its own response in a week or so.

The medical examiner in the case admitted he had no specific training in entomology. But the state is skeptical of the new bug evidence.

"We're always interested, and they can pursue these types of claims," said Kent Cattani, chief of the state's death penalty appeals unit. "The fact he's an expert doesn't mean he establishes the point for either side.

"You consider an expert's opinion in light of all the other evidence in the case. If you have an expert that comes in and says the moon is made of cheese, it doesn't carry all the weight. We look at all the evidence."

(source: APB News)

                The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
                                               Contact us for more information.
            
                                                       "The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"