Innocence Blog

Mississippi legislators pass DNA testing bill

Posted: February 28, 2008 4:10 pm

The Mississippi House of Representatives passed two bills this week providing DNA testing access to small groups of people convicted of – and charged with – murder. The bills would provide access to post-conviction DNA testing for people on death row, and would provide DNA testing access to people facing capital murder charges.

Mississippi is one of eight states in the U.S. with no state law allowing access to DNA testing. But the Innocence Project recommends that states allow testing in all cases in which DNA testing could change the conviction – not only death-penalty cases.

Earlier this month, the Mississippi Senate passed a bill addressing preservation of evidence in cases so that DNA testing can be done to determine guilt or innocence.  That bill now moves to the House for consideration.

Read more about the bills here. (The Commercial Dispatch, 02/28/08)

The bills, which will now go to the Mississippi Senate, come in the wake of the Feb. 15 exoneration of Kennedy Brewer and the release of Levon Brooks, both of whom spent 15 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. Read more about their cases here.