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04 Oct 2011 10:04

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U.S.: Texas inmate to be freed after DNA evidence exonerates him

  • He’s eager to be released, as you can imagine, after all these years. He’s kind of going to be Rip Van Winkle — he’s never held a cell phone; Reagan was president when he went in. There’s going to be a lot of adjustments, but he’ll be fine.
  • Houston lawyer John Raley, who works with the Innocence Project • Discussing the imminent release of convicted murderer Michael Morton, who is expected to be released today after DNA evidence exonerated him from the crime of killing his wife in 1986. DNA evidence implicates a convicted felon who has also been tied to a similar 1988 murder. Morton, meanwhile, was convicted on circumstantial evidence and otherwise had no history of violence. Enjoy your freedom, Michael — they have these things called iPhones now, and they’re awesome. (thanks Michael Cote for the tip) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 11:22

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U.S.: Supreme Court narrowly favors death row inmate’s DNA fight

  • 6-3 the SCOTUS decision to favor a Texas death-row inmate source
  • » More rights for death row inmates? Inmate Hank Skinner, based on this decision, will be able to file a civil rights lawsuit to get DNA material. It’s a narrowly-scoped decision, however, and one that only allows Skinner to claim that the state didn’t follow its own policies on acquiring DNA evidence. What does that mean, in layman’s terms? It means that inmates don’t have a broad constitutional right to acquire DNA material in court – a decision which would have much larger ramifications and give inmates a quite-large bargaining point in criminal cases (including the ability for their defense to independently test such DNA material). Still, though, it buys Skinner time.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 15:45

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U.S.: Did George W. Bush allow the execution of an innocent man?

  • I have no doubt that if President Bush had known about the request to do a DNA test of the hair he would have issued a 30-day stay in this case and Jones would not have been executed.
  • Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck • Arguing that George W. Bush, while still governor of Texas, let death row inmate Claude Jones face execution in 2000, despite the existence of DNA evidence which proved he was innocent. The Innocence Project revealed today that Jones’ DNA was not found at the crime scene of the liquor store where the 1989 murder of Allen Hilzendager. While hair at the crime scene was initially linked to Jones after the crime took place, it wasn’t actually his, and even though Jones asked for DNA testing on the strand of hair, it wasn’t enough to force a stay of execution. No other physical evidence linked Jones to the scene.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Nov 2010 10:01

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U.S.: Chandra Levy trial has a pretty major DNA-related problem

  • bad Gary Condit’s name was dragged in the mud over the Chandra Levy situation – and now, years later, Ingmar Guandique is on trial for the murder.
  • worse During the trial, scientific experts drop a bombshell – no DNA or forensic evidence links either man to the crime scene. This is troubling. source
  • » To make things worse: There is some DNA evidence (semen and fingerprints, to be specific) but it doesn’t match either man. It doesn’t mean that Ingmar Guandique still isn’t the suspect. It just means it’ll be much harder for the prosecution to prove it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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