KALKASKA COUNTY, MI – Two innocence projects that pushed for DNA testing in the 1996 rape and killing of a Kalkaska woman said evidence shows that a man serving a life sentence was not involved in the crime.

State police on Tuesday, Dec. 3, announced the arrest of Jason Anthony Ryan, 35, of Davison, in the October 1996 killing of 68-year-old Geraldine Montgomery. She was found in the trunk of her car with the engine running.

Two years after the killing, Jamie Peterson, 39, was convicted of first-degree murder and two first-degree criminal-sexual conduct charges.

Recent testing of DNA evidence allegedly linked Ryan to the crimes. None of the DNA evidence belonged to Peterson.

When the crime occurred, DNA technology was primitive, and could not identify the source of semen and saliva found on the victim’s shirt.

The prosecution argued that it likely belonged to Peterson.

Now, the Michigan Innocence Clinic and Center on Wrongful Convictions plan to file legal motions before Christmas seeking Peterson’s release and a new trial.

“This new evidence proves that Jamie Peterson is absolutely innocent, he was never in that house, committed no crimes, and has no idea who did,” Caitlin Plummer, one of Peterson’s new attorneys, said in a statement.

Innocence projects from the University of Michigan Law School and Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago spent hundreds of hours researching the case.

They concluded that Peterson had been wrongly convicted.

The organizations said that four months after the killing, Peterson provided a “series of wildly inconsistent and inaccurate statements to police, Mr. Peterson confessed to the rape and murder. However, after DNA testing on the rape kit conclusively excluded Mr. Peterson as the donor, the police decided that there must have been two perpetrators. … Mr. Peterson was convicted on the theory that he committed the crime with an unknown co-conspirator and that Mr. Peterson was likely responsible for the stain on the shirt.”

In the spring, Peterson’s former attorney, Al Millstein, 92, asked Michigan Innocence Clinic co-director David Moran to take a look at the case. The previous Kalkaska prosecutor had “rebuffed” efforts to use new DNA technology on crime-scene evidence, Peterson’s advocates said.

Moran said it was “indisputable” that Peterson did not rape the victim. The testing allegedly showed Ryan was the source of semen found on the rape kit and victim’s shirt.

“We solicited the assistance of the Center on Wrongful Convictions and met with the new prosecutor in Kalkaska, who consulted with the Michigan State Police. We were very pleased when the new prosecutor immediately agreed with us that further DNA testing was of utmost importance," Moran said.

Advocates for Peterson said that he and Ryan have never been connected, but Ryan was linked to a now-deceased man who was the first prime suspect in the case.

UpNorthLive.com reported that Ryan was arraigned on charges of open murder, felony murder and first-degree criminal-sexual conduct. Bond was set at $2 million.

Police say Ryan lived in the Davison area, but was in Kalkaska around the time of the killing.

John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar