Bill would expand prisoners' rights to DNA testing - Cincinnati.com

Former federal marshal wants to afford convicts tools to prove innocence

A conservative Northern Kentucky lawmaker has thrown his support behind legislation previously championed by liberals that would allow a Cincinnati man to proceed with DNA testing on evidence he claims will exonerate him of a 1987 rape and killing in Newport.

“If DNA testing is good enough to send you to prison it should be good enough to get you out of prison,” State Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, said while speaking at a criminal law reform symposium held last month at Northern Kentucky University.

“One of the basic tenants of American jurisprudence is that it is better to have a guilty man go free than an innocent man go to prison.”

On Friday, Schickel pre-filed legislation that would afford DNA testing to inmates like 60-year-old William Virgil, who is serving a 70-year sentence in LaGrange for the killing of VA Medical Center nurse Retha Welch. DNA testing was not available at the time of the crime.

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DNA for the Defense Bar

by The National Institute of Justice

DNA for the Defense Bar is the newest addition to a series of NIJ guides that aims to improve the use of forensic DNA in the criminal justice system. Designed specifically for criminal defense lawyers, it:

  • Offers a primer on the science of DNA, from collection at a crime scene to laboratory analysis and findings.
  • Provides general discussions on working with a criminal defense client and preparing a defense, including the testimony of a DNA expert witness and cross-examining prosecution DNA witnesses.
  • Offers guidance regarding trial issues (for example, jury selection and opening and closing statements) and includes an in-depth discussion of the statistics with respect to CODIS match probabilities.
  • Include a discussion of post-conviction DNA testing.

Full text:

Louisville Courier-Journal Editorial - State needs to change DNA testing law

It has been 23 years since the first person wrongly convicted of a crime was exonerated through the science of DNA testing. Since then, 289 people in 35 states found guilty of offenses have been exonerated through DNA tests, according to the Innocence Project website,

Yet Kentucky stands squarely behind the times when it comes to updating its laws and policies on DNA testing in cases where people claim they have been wrongly convicted for serious offenses.

Complete editorial

Op-Ed about DNA Bill

Allow more DNA testing - Lexington Herald-Leader

It's telling that the prosecutor who oversees more criminal cases than anyone in Kentucky recently testified in favor of expanding the availability of post-conviction DNA testing.

We don't usually expect prosecutors to help convicts get out of jail. But when the wrong person is locked up, the individual who actually committed a violent crime is not held accountable and our system of justice has failed.

Everyone has a stake in getting it right, which is why Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel of Louisville urged the approval of House Bill 178.

HB 178

 

Lexington Herald Leader - Reform Urgent to Protect Innocent

Miscarriage of Justice

We hope that by the time you read this, Kerry R. Porter will be a free man, after serving 14 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

....

Porter's story is the nightmare of a society that values liberty and justice. There are steps lawmakers and courts must take to avert more such nightmares.

The editorial explains reforms needed to eyewitness identification, eligibility for DNA testing, disclosure of new evidence and compensation to those wrongfully convicted.  Kerry Porter is represented by the DPA's Kentucky Innocence Project.