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Friday Roundup: The Struggle for DNA Access
Posted: June 19, 2009 12:00 pm
The big news in the innocence movement this week came from Washington, D.C., yesterday, where the U.S. Supreme Court denied Innocence Project client William Osborne access to the DNA testing that could prove his innocence. (The Innocence Project’s comment on the case is here and the full Supreme Court opinion is here).
The impact of yesterday’s decision will be limited, however, because most prisoners obtain access to DNA testing at the state level. Osborne’s case is an example of one in which DNA access at the state level is difficult, and Kenneth Reed’s is another.
A prestigious group of DNA and legal experts filed a brief this week in a Louisiana appeals court backing a judge’s decision to grant DNA testing in Reed’s case. Reed, an Innocence Project client, was sentenced to life for a 1991 Louisiana rape he says he didn’t commit and he is seeking DNA testing that could prove his innocence.
The Ohio Supreme Court will hear the case of a former Ohio police officer seeking DNA testing to prove his innocence.
A Missouri man convicted of a 2005 murder he says he didn’t commit was denied a new trial this week.
The family of Texas exoneree Timothy Cole is hoping state legislators will return for a special session to review a bill allowing Gov. Rick Perry to issue Cole a posthumous pardon.
The Dallas Morning News crime blog ran a Q&A this week with public defender Michelle Moore, who has represented seven of 20 people cleared through DNA testing in Dallas.
A man who spent 17 years in prison in Japan for a murder evidence shows he didn’t commit visited his hometown this week and received an apology from the police chief.
‘‘I apologize from the bottom of my heart for imposing on you this hardship for such a long time,’’ the chief told 62-year-old Toshikazu Sugaya.
Tags: Access to DNA Testing, William Osborne
Join the Discussion: The Struggle for DNA Access
Posted: May 18, 2009 11:20 am
A story in the New York Times today examines the cases of several prisoners who have met with resistance from prosecutors and judges in obtaining DNA testing that could prove their innocence. Innocence Project client Kenneth Reed has been in Louisiana’s Angola prison for 17 years for a rape he has always said he didn’t commit. DNA testing could prove his innocence, but prosecutors have resisted his appeals – saying he was identified by witnesses and convicted by a jury so doesn’t have the right to DNA testing.
In Mr. Reed’s case in East Baton Rouge Parish, the district attorney who first prosecuted the case and now his successor, Hillar C. Moore III, have appealed every DNA-related ruling in Mr. Reed’s favor and objected to even a hearing on the matter.Learn more about the Innocence Project’s work to improve DNA testing access when it can prove innocence – and find your state's DNA access law on our interactive map.
They have argued that Mr. Reed’s identity was not an issue in the trial because he was identified by (witnesses), even though DNA evidence has repeatedly contradicted eyewitness identifications. They have argued that there was no way of knowing whether the evidence would yield a usable DNA profile — a question that would be settled by testing it.
…(Innocence Project Staff Attorney) Nina Morrison … said: “The one thing I’ve learned in doing this for seven years is there’s no reason to guess or speculate. You can just do the test.”
Read the full story here and join the discussion on the New York Times website. (New York Times, 05/18/09)
Tags: Access to DNA Testing
Exonerees demand statewide DNA testing at press conference today in Louisiana
Posted: January 15, 2008 12:27 pm
Today at 1 p.m. in Baton Rouge, Rickey Johnson – who was freed yesterday after serving 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit – will speak out for inmate access to DNA testing. Johnson would not be free today if he weren’t from Sabine Parish, where District Attorney Don Burkett worked with the Innocence Project to secure testing in the case and has now said he will help Johnson push for compensation for the injustice he suffered.
Defendants convicted in other parts of Louisiana have not met with such cooperation. Two Innocence Project clients – Archie Williams and Kenneth Reed – are seeking DNA testing that can prove their innocence. Both men were convicted in East Baton Rouge, and local district attorney Doug Moreau has fought to prevent them from receiving the tests. Williams, who spent time with Johnson at Louisiana’s state prison at Angola, has filed 10 motions over the last 13 years seeking DNA testing. Moreau has fought every one. In August, a state appeals court finally granted DNA testing in Williams’ case, but Moreau appealed that decision to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which has not decided whether to hear the appeal.
“Rickey left Archie Williams behind at Angola, where he continues waiting for the DNA tests that can prove his innocence or confirm his guilt,” Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said yesterday. “Rickey Johnson wants to look Doug Moreau in the eye and share his profound personal experience with DNA testing. We will ask Mr. Moreau to immediately drop his state Supreme Court appeal and consent to DNA testing in Archie Williams’ case.”
Read the Innocence Project press release here for more details on today’s press conference and the cases of Archie Williams and Rickey Johnson.Press coverage of Rickey Johnson’s exoneration:
Shreveport Times: Louisiana man is “free at last”
Johnson exonerated after serving 26 years of life sentence
Tags: Rickey Johnson, Archie Williams
Dispatch from Louisiana: As an innocent man is freed, why can't others get a test?
Posted: January 14, 2008 2:24 pm
By Vanessa Potkin, Innocence Project Staff Attorney
(Sabine Parish, Louisiana) — This morning I sat with Rickey Johnson as a Louisiana judge ended the 26-year nightmare that has been Rickey’s adult life. He was 26 years old when he was arrested for a rape he didn’t commit. Today, he is 52.
The victim identified Rickey in a terribly misleading photo lineup – the photo of Rickey was eight years old and there were only two other pictures to choose from. Several months later, a jury convicted him of the crime and sentenced him to life in prison. He spent the next 9,136 days at Louisiana’s massive state prison at Angola.
Rickey was engulfed by family as he walked into the free world this morning– several of his relatives had come to welcome him home, and others will be reunited with him in the next few days. Watching Rickey taste freedom for the first time in more than a quarter of a century is mind-boggling. The joy was palpable, but it was impossible to comprehend that he spent nearly his entire adult life at Angola for a crime he didn’t commit.
And while this is Rickey’s day to celebrate, my mind turned to two other Innocence Project clients who will go to sleep again tonight at Angola. Archie Williams has been fighting for 13 years to simply have DNA evidence tested in his case. The tests can prove his guilt or innocence beyond any doubt, but East Baton Rouge District Attorney Doug Moreau has fought Archie’s appeal at every turn. The same is true for Kenneth Reed, convicted in East Baton Rouge and unable – so far – to have DNA testing conducted in his case.
Tomorrow Rickey will join other Louisiana exonerees and relatives of Archie Williams in calling for statewide access to DNA testing when it can prove innocence. An innocent man’s quarter-century behind bars will be in vain if we are not able to learn from his nightmare and correct the problems in our criminal justice system that convict the innocent and keep them behind bars without fair, fast appeals. It’s only right that Rickey’s case should lead to testing for Archie Williams, Kenneth Reed and others seeking to prove the truth.
Read today’s Innocence Project press release on Rickey Johnson’s exoneration.
Tags: Rickey Johnson, Dispatches