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Critics say Virginia DNA testing project is moving slowly
Posted: August 28, 2007 5:01 pm
Two years ago, Viriginia officials said they would begin to test crime scene evidence in hundreds of cases that may have been wrongful convictions, and now critics say the state’s crime lab is moving too slowly in completing the task.
The process has its roots in the 2002 exoneration of Innocence Project client Marvin Anderson. After officials declared that evidence in Anderson’s case had been destroyed, samples of evidence were found preserved in the notebook of a lab technician, along with samples from hundreds of other cases. After DNA testing on this evidence led to the exonerations of Anderson and two other men (Julius Earl Ruffin in 2003 and Arthur Lee Whitfield in 2004), the Innocence Project urged officials to conduct a broader review of cases. Then-Governor Mark Warner ordered a review of a 10 percent sample of the 300-plus cases in which the technician had saved evidence. Two more men (Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson) were proven innocent by this review.
Based on these results, Warner ordered a systematic review of all Virginia convictions in which biological evidence led to convictions, and officials said the project would take two years. However, two years into the $1.4-million project, testing has not been completed on even the first 30 remaining cases. Critics have accused lab officials of dragging their feet:
Betty Layne DesPortes, an area defense lawyer and member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, isn't satisfied. "They didn't complete four cases, so we really don't know the magnitude of the problem. . . . They left over 10 percent of these cases incomplete."But crime lab director Peter Marone said the undertaking has grown since inception. His department has searched over 500,000 files for potential evidence so far, he claimed.
"Why haven't they done it already? They have no sense of urgency or commitment to this project," she said.
"I do not see how this is foot-dragging," Marone wrote in an e-mail. "This is not an easy process on 20-to-30-year-old cases."Read more about the cases of Anderson, Ruffin, Whitfield, Thurman and Davidson.
Read the full story here. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 08/28/2007)
Watch a video interview with Marvin Anderson.
Tags: Virginia, Marvin Anderson, Willie Davidson, Julius Ruffin, Phillip Leon Thurman, Arthur Lee Whitfield
Virginia editorial: Crime lab review should be transparent
Posted: October 25, 2007 4:35 pm
After DNA testing on biological evidence discovered in the files of a long-retired Virginia forensic analyst led to the exoneration of five innocent people between 2002 and 2005, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner ordered a systematic review of possible DNA cases in the state lab. Officials say that review is moving forward, but the procedures have not been made public.
An editorial in today’s Virginian-Pilot calls for more transparency from the lab and prosecutors regarding their methods of reviewing cases for possible exculpatory evidence.
Lab leaders have sought assistance from local prosecutors in gathering information about the original crimes in each case. But an obvious bias exists if prosecutors are helping to decide whether a criminal case should be re-opened….Those convicted of the crimes have a right to know if new questions are being raised about their guilt, or alternatively if their guilt has been confirmed by new evidence.Lab officials announced last week that the first batch of 66 cases had been analyzed, and that two convicted defendants would be notified that their DNA was not found in the evidence from their case.
Read the full editorial here. (Virginian-Pilot, 10/25/07)
Read the full story here. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10/22/07)
While searching for evidence in the case of Marvin Anderson, Virginia lab officials discovered that retired analyst Mary Jane Burton had been saving samples of biological evidence in her files. Anderson was exonerated by tests on the evidence in 2002, and the other four men exonerated by these samples were Julius Earl Ruffin, Arthur Lee Whitfield, Phillip Leon Thurman and Willie Davidson.
Tags: Marvin Anderson, Willie Davidson, Julius Ruffin, Phillip Leon Thurman, Arthur Lee Whitfield
Virginia conducts review of DNA cases, but doesn't plan to share results with inmates
Posted: January 16, 2008 5:31 pm
After a report last week revealed that Virginia officials do not plan to tell convicted defendants if an audit has revealed untested biological evidence in their case file, editorials and experts have criticized the plan as unfair to people who may be wrongfully imprisoned.
The audit began after Marvin Anderson was exonerated in 2002 by DNA evidence in his case that was uncovered in the files of a retired lab analyst. Gov. Mark Warner then ordered that 10% of cases in the analyst’s files be tested for a possible wrongful conviction. Two more men – Phillip Leon Thurman and Willie Davidson – were exonerated by this review, and Warner ordered a complete audit of all sex assault and murder convictions between 1973 and 1988 involving biological evidence. That audit turned up 2,215 cases, and officials plan to share this list of cases with police, prosecutors and the governor, but not to notify defendants if biological evidence has been found in their case.
Leading voices across the state are outraged by the plan to notify only police and prosecutors.
From an editorial in the Bristol Herald Courier:
Now, the state’s prosecutors, court clerks and police are fine, honorable people. But we’re not so certain that they will be zealous advocates on behalf of individuals that their colleagues put away years ago. It’s human nature to prefer not to kick over a hornet’s nest.
…The Department should move forward with testing and notify those whose convictions might be affected by the results of that testing. It’s the only fair way to proceed.
Read the full editorial here.
From an editorial in the Roanoke Times:
Unless Virginia is taking its lead from the White House's treatment of detainees, it should let prisoners and their attorneys know what new evidence is available. Those prisoners could then decide whether to pursue DNA testing independently of the state.
Yet the state Forensic Science Board does not think that is appropriate. On a 6-5 vote, it chose to keep prisoners and the General Assembly in the dark.
…Those opposed to notification raised concerns about the cost of testing, difficulty tracking down each felon and sending a message that the state doesn't trust police and prosecutors. None of those inconveniences is particularly convincing when the alternative is to deny a wrongfully convicted prisoner an opportunity to prove his innocence.
Read the full editorial here.
Read more about this issue in the Richmond-Times Dispatch.
Tags: Marvin Anderson, Willie Davidson, Phillip Leon Thurman
Virginia pauses massive DNA review to wait for federal funds
Posted: May 13, 2008 5:00 pm
The state of Virginia is seeking a $4.5 million federal grant to continue an unprecedented systematic review of DNA evidence in hundreds of convictions. The project, ordered over two years ago by then-Governor Mark Warner, has halted temporarily after spending $1.4 million in state funds.
The process has its roots in the 2002 exoneration of Innocence Project client Marvin Anderson. After officials declared that evidence in Anderson’s case had been destroyed, samples of evidence were found preserved in the notebook of a lab technician, along with samples from hundreds of other cases. After DNA testing on this evidence led to the exonerations of Anderson and two other men (Julius Earl Ruffin in 2003 and Arthur Lee Whitfield in 2004), the Innocence Project urged officials to conduct a broader review of cases. Gov. Warner ordered a review of a 10 percent sample of the 300-plus cases in which the technician had saved evidence. Two more men (Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson) were proven innocent by this review and Gov. Warner ordered a systematic review of all convictions with biological evidence.
The review came under fire last year for not moving quickly enough because testing had not been completed on even 30 cases. The Washington Post now reports that lab workers have gone through 534,000 case files and sent thousands of relevant samples for testing.
The review has identified more than 2,100 files that contain forensic evidence with named suspects. The state has sent hundreds of samples to a private Fairfax County lab, Bode Technology Group, for testing.Virginia’s lab director Peter. M. Marone said the testing will continue with state funds if the grant doesn’t come through.
"We're just trying to make sure we'll expend federal grant money rather than state money," he said.
Read the full story. (Washington Post, 8/12/08)The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is monitoring the case review and has raised questions about why the state is not notifying defendants when testing is being conducted in their cases. Read more on the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project blog (http://www.exonerate.org/category/blog)
Read more about the cases of Anderson, Ruffin, Whitfield, Thurman and Davidson.
Watch a video interview with Marvin Anderson.
Tags: Virginia, Willie Davidson, Julius Ruffin, Phillip Leon Thurman, Arthur Lee Whitfield
Three Years Later, Virginia Case Review Goes On
Posted: December 24, 2008 12:02 pm
Three years ago this week, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner pardoned two former state prisoners, announcing that a random audit of 10 percent of cases in the files of a former analyst had led to DNA tests that proved the innocence of Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson.
The sequence of events leading to the audit, and the exoneration of Thurman and Davidson, was sparked by an Innocence Project case in 2001. That year, attorneys at the Innocence Project obtained DNA testing in the case of Virginia inmate Marvin Anderson, who had been convicted of rape in 1982. Evidence from Anderson’s case, thought to have been lost, had been located in the notebook of Mary Jane Burton, who performed conventional serology testing in Anderson’s case. The DNA test proved that Anderson could not have committed the rape for which he was convicted. In 2003 and 2004, evidence saved by Burton was instrumental in proving the innocence of Virginia inmates Julius Earl Ruffin and Arthur Lee Whitfield.
Burton’s unusual practice of saving evidence in her notebooks has now contributed to five exonerations in all, and Warner ordered a full review of her case files after the exonerations of Thurman and Davidson in 2005. The review is ongoing, read an update on the progress from a post on the Innocence Blog in August.
Other Exoneration Anniversaries This Week:
Dwayne Scruggs, Indiana (Served 7.5 Years, Exonerated 12/22/1993)
Entre Nax Karage, Texas (Served 6.5 Years, Exonerated 12/22/2005)
Keith Turner, Texas (Served 4 Years, Exonerated 12/22/2005)
Tags: Marvin Anderson, Willie Davidson, Phillip Leon Thurman