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Claiming innocence, inmate seeks DNA testing in 1976 slaying

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January 16th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa inmate Gentric Hicks has spent 43 years in prison for a murder that his lawyers say his deceased half-brother actually committed. Now 73, Hicks is seeking DNA testing on a hunting cap the killer left at the scene of the fatal shooting at a southeastern Iowa motel that could either prove his innocence or affirm his guilt. Hicks is serving a life sentence for the May 23, 1976, murder of 28-year-old Jerry Foster at the Hill Crest Motel on Highway 61 outside Fort Madison. His petition claims his prosecution was based on flawed eyewitness and fingerprint analysis testimony.