Kenneth Clair Will follow Advice of Attorney

By SEAN EMERY | semery@scng.com | Orange County Register and TONY
SAAVEDRA | tsaavedra@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: June 2, 2025 at 1:55 PM PDT
 
A new round of DNA testing exonerates a homeless man who has spent nearly
four decades in prison for the killing of a Santa Ana nanny, according to defense
attorneys who are asking Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer to declare
Kenneth Clair innocent of the 1984 slaying.
​
Clair, who spent years on death row before an appellate court overturned his
death sentence and he was re-sentenced to life without the possibility of
parole, has always denied killing 25-year-old Linda Faye Rodgers. A viral social
media campaign — including a new trial petition that drew more than 160,000
signatures — turned his case into a cause celebre.
​
Rodgers was found bludgeoned, stabbed and strangled in the master bedroom of
a Santa Ana house where she worked. Her child, and four others, were sleeping in
another room. Clair, then 25, was living in an abandoned home next door to
where Rodgers was caring for the children, had been arrested days earlier on
suspicion of burglarizing the house where she was staying and was released from
jail hours before the killing.
​
The evidence against Clair was largely circumstantial, including a claim by Clair’s
ex-girlfriend who testified that Clair had shown her items taken from the house
during the killing. The ex-girlfriend also wore a wire, and recorded a conversation
in which Clair equivocated when asked why he killed Rodgers, not denying the
slaying but falling short of confessing.
​
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/06/02/new-round-of-dna-testing-pro…nocence-of-man-imprisoned-for-decades-for-oc-slaying-defense-says/
Page 2 of 20 New round of DNA testing proves innocence of man imprisoned for decades for OC slaying, defense says – Orange County Register
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But other evidence has long called into question Clair’s conviction. DNA taken
from vaginal swabs of the victim did not match Clair. And a child who witnessed
the killing told police the attacker was White; Clair is Black.
​
Acknowledging the advancements in DNA technology since Clair’s conviction,
Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson in 2023 granted a defense
request to test pieces of evidence that could not be DNA tested at the time of the
original investigation.
​
The Orange County DA’s office did not oppose the request for new testing, which
led to 20 pieces of evidence that had been collected from the crime scene and
from Rodgers’ body being analyzed by the county crime lab and DNA experts who
previously have worked for both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
​
The testing “confirmed Mr. Clair’s actual innocence,” said Michael D. Mortenson,
one of the attorney’s representing Clair. None of the tested items had Clair’s DNA
on them, said Mortenson, who also noted that no physical evidence — including
fingerprint, hair or blood evidence — has ever tied Clair to the murder scene.
​
The new DNA evidence also points to two potential participants in Rodgers’ killing,
though their identities are currently unknown.
​
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/06/02/new-round-of-dna-testing-pro…nocence-of-man-imprisoned-for-decades-for-oc-slaying-defense-says/
 
New round of DNA testing proves innocence of man imprisoned for decades for OC slaying, defense says – Orange County Register
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One unidentified person’s DNA was found on the sleeves of a T-shirt that was
used to bind Rodgers, on a chrome bar that was used to strike her, on a glove
discovered on top of her right foot and on parts of her body and her clothes,
according to the defense letter. A second unidentified person’s DNA was found on
the fly of Rodgers’ jeans and on a cigarette butt that was recovered from the
waterbed where the killing occurred, the defense added.
​
In a letter to DA Todd Spitzer, the attorneys representing Clair requested an
“expedited review for actual innocence of his (Clair’s conviction).”
 
“Nearly 40 years have passed since Mr. Clair was convicted of a murder he did not
commit,” Mortenson wrote in the letter. “The evidence now confirms what he has
said all along — he did not do it.”
​
Asked for comment on the letter from Clair’s attorneys, DA officials did not
specifically weigh in on the new evidence, instead referencing their conviction
review process.
​
“We believe in in our cases and our convictions,” said Kimberly Edds, a
spokeswoman for the DA’s office. “The responsibility of a prosecutor is immense,
and it is a responsibility we take extremely seriously. We will continue to review
each and every request to review a case for wrongful conviction or a claim of
factual innocence and take the appropriate action based on the evidence as we
carry out our mission of pursuing justice and protecting public safety.”
​
Mortenson expressed frustration at the lack of a quick answer from the DA’s
office. If prosecutors don’t determine that Clair was innocent and seek dismissal
of the conviction, Mortenson said the defense may seek a new trial based on the
new DNA evidence.
​
“Everyone right now should be on the same side,” Mortenson said. “And that is the
side of justice for both the victim and the person who has been wrongfully
convicted.”
​
After nearly three decades on death row, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
2016 overturned Clair’s death sentence but upheld his murder conviction. The
appellate judges found that during his trial, Clair’s defense attorney failed to
present evidence that he was repeatedly raped behind bars as a teenager during
his previous prison stint for purse snatching. That evidence could have swayed
the jury toward compassion as they considered the death penalty, the judges
found.
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https://www.ocregister.com/2025/06/02/new-round-of-dna-testing-pro…nocence-of-man-imprisoned-for-decades-for-oc-slaying-defense-says/
 
New round of DNA testing proves innocence of man imprisoned for decades for OC slaying, defense says – Orange County Register
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Orange County prosecutors opted not to once again seek the death penalty. At
the time, Clair’s attorneys asked Judge Hanson to re-sentence Clair to 25-years-to-
life, which due to his time already served behind bars would have made him
immediately eligible for parole.
 
Instead, Judge Hanson, in her 2020 ruling, ordered Clair to spend the rest of his
life behind bars. The judge acknowledged that Clair was exposed to violence as a youth and
described his early years as “less than ideal.” But she also said she believed Clair
remained a danger to the public, describing the killing as having “revealed a high
degree of cruelty and viciousness.” Rodgers’ daughter backed the life without
parole sentence, telling the judge that Clair “never owned what he did, never
showed any remorse for his actions” and was “exactly where he belongs.”
​
The results of the recent DNA tests were “a huge sigh of relief” for Clair, his
attorney said. But, Mortenson added, Clair has no intention of taking any deal
that would require him to admit to lesser charges, even if it would result in his
being released from prison on time served.
 
“It is all or nothing,” Mortenson said of his client’s intention. “Either he dies in
prison an innocent man and the world knows he is innocent, or the DA agrees to
drop all charges or we litigate it and go to a new trial.”