Man Was Convicted of Raping R.I. Grandma, 66, Then Putting Her in a Bathtub with a Hairdryer. Now He Wants New Trial By Christina Coulter 32

The man serving life without parole for the 1999 rape and murder of a Rhode Island grandmother is now claiming police planted DNA evidence as he pushes for a new trial.

Jeremy Motyka, now 50, was convicted in 2001 of first-degree murder and first-degree sexual assault in the killing of 66-year-old Angela Spence-Shaw, whose battered body was found in her bathtub at her Little Compton home over Memorial Day weekend, WPRI, the Providence Journal and EastBayRI reported.

Spence-Shaw was raped, beaten and left submerged in her bathtub with a plugged-in hair dryer, and Motyka was part of a construction crew renovating her Sakonnet Point Road home at the time of her death, the outlets reported.

Motyka, who has long maintained his innocence, is seeking post-conviction relief, alleging Rhode Island State Police planted the DNA evidence used to convict him and that his trial attorney was ineffective, according to WPRI and the Providence Journal.

He also argued that he had an alibi during the time Spence-Shaw was believed to have died and that fingerprints found at the scene did not link him to the crime, the Providence Journal reported.

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His latest motion was argued earlier this month in Washington County Superior Court, where a judge asked both sides to submit written legal arguments for review this spring. The hearing follows a 2017 Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling that said Motyka was entitled to an evidentiary hearing after an earlier request for post-conviction relief was denied without being heard, according to EastBayRI and WPRI.

Motyka’s former public defender, Michael DiLauro, told the court the defense was not given all the information needed to properly represent him at trial, per EastBayRI.

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that while Motyka is entitled to a hearing, “the state is confident that after an evidentiary hearing on the post-conviction relief matter, the Superior Court will dismiss the petition as meritless,” WPRI and EastBayRI reported.

State prosecutors also argue Motyka has presented no new evidence and is attempting to relitigate facts already decided by a jury, per the Providence Journal and WPRI.

Spence-Shaw, who worked at Peckham’s Greenhouse and was active in the Little Compton Garden Club, was remembered as a beloved member of the community, per EastBayRI and the Providence Journal — more than 300 residents attended a memorial service held about a week after her death.

Motyka is currently behind bars at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, according to WPRI and EastBayRI. PEOPLE could not reach his current attorney for comment at press time.