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Supreme Court Rules No Right to Post-Conviction DNA Testing

By standdown

The ruling in District Attorney?s Office v. Osborne (08-6) is here, in Adobe .pdf format.  The Scotus Wiki page is here, with complete briefing.At SCOTUS Blog, Lyle Denniston files, "Court rejects DNA access claim."Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an individual whose criminal conviction has become final does not have a constitutional right to gain access to evidence so that it can be subjected to DNA testing to try to prove innocence.  This was one of four final rulings the Court issued Thursday, leaving ten remaining.  The next release of opinions is expected on Monday. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., writing for the majority in District Attorney?s Office v. Osborne (08-6), noted that DNA testing provides ?an unparalleled ability? to prove innocence or guilt, but its availability ?cannot mean that every criminal conviction, or even every criminal conviction involving biological evidence, is suddenly in doubt...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 18, 2009 (boomark / email).