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Skinner case boosts chances for improving state DNA testing statute

I've not had time to give more than passing attention to Hank Skinner's much-remarked victory at the US Supreme Court, allowing federal civil rights lawsuits to seek DNA testing on top of Texas' Ch. 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, our DNA testing statute. But the decision does make me think the chances of passage for state Sen. Rodney Ellis' SB 122 have improved as a result of the decision. The bill, which is part of his "innocence package," essentially removes a few already minimalist barriers to securing postconviction DNA testing where evidence was never tested and the results might prove innocence. If it passes, judges will no longer consider why the DNA wasn't tested in the first place, only if it exists, wasn't tested and potentially could prove innocence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).