The governor on Friday ordered DNA tests be conducted on evidence that a death row inmate claims will set him free. The inmate, Derek Barnabei, is scheduled to be executed next week. Gov. Jim Gilmore ordered the tests on fingernail clippings taken from the body of a 17-year-old girl Barnabei was convicted of raping and killing. The clippings had been reported missing from a locked storage room. They were found days later, and Gilmore ordered an investigation into their disappearance. He said a forensics director determined the evidence packets had not been opened.

Gilmore said he expected the results from the new tests to be available well ahead of Barnabei's scheduled Sept. 14 execution.

Seth Tucker, an attorney who represents Barnabei, said he was pleased with the new tests, but was still concerned about possible tampering with the evidence and troubled that the execution has not been delayed.

Barnabei, 33, has contended that he is innocent in the slaying of Sarah Wisnosky, whom he had been dating. The nude body of the Old Dominion University freshman was found in the Lafayette River in Norfolk on Sept. 22, 1993. She had been strangled and suffered 10 blows to the back and right side of her head, possibly from a hammer. Barnabei, an Italian-American, has drawn strong support from Italy. In 1998, more than 200 Italian legislators appealed to Virginia to grant Barnabei a new trial. Earlier this year, the Italian parliament appealed to Gilmore to stay the execution.

William S. Sessions, a former federal judge who was FBI director under presidents Reagan and Bush, also wrote to Gilmore urging him to approve the tests.