In a case in Tennessee, DNA evidence from a rape and murder for which a man was executed in 2006, but for which doubts about his guilt exist, sits untested because Mr. Scheck and others have not been able to recruit a local newspaper or media organization to become a plaintiff.

Since 1992, 238 people in the United States, some who were sitting on death row, have been exonerated of crimes through DNA testing. But proving with scientific certitude that an innocent person has been executed is difficult.

Image Sedley Alley, convicted of murder, was executed in 2006.

“The problem that we’ve had in these capital cases is that evidence has been destroyed,” said Mr. Scheck.

This approach  enlisting a newspaper as a plaintiff to petition courts to preserve and test DNA evidence  has been tried before in some states, including Virginia, where testing confirmed a defendant’s guilt, and Georgia, where the results were inconclusive. Still, Mr. Scheck said of the Jones case: “We were in the legal netherworlds of law. We’re doing it on the grounds of the First Amendment and the public’s right to know.”

Some news organizations are reluctant to join the effort out of fear of blurring the line between advocate and objective collector of the news. “My feeling always was we should do it on our own,” said Maurice Possley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who wrote many death penalty and wrongful convictions stories while a reporter for The Chicago Tribune.

Mr. Possley, who left The Tribune last year, had discussions with Mr. Scheck about the paper becoming involved as a plaintiff in the Jones case. “I think the more you link up, people will think you have a bias or an agenda,” Mr. Possley said.