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Supreme Court Rules DNA Tests for Prisoners Not a Constitutional Right

By Walin & Klarich

Why You Need an Experienced Criminal Appeals Attorney Fighting for You A report published on LATIMES.COM discussed the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the rights of prisoners to have crime samples tested for DNA. The important decision cleared the way for individual states to legislate the issue themselves as the Court found that there was no need for a constitutional amendment that would dictate the criminal court procedures for all 50 states. According to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, the majority of the court saw no reason for: "a freestanding and far-reaching constitutional right of access to this type of evidence." Upholding such a new right "would take the development of rules and procedures in this area of out of the hands of legislatures and state courts shaping policy in a focused manner and turn it over to federal courts?" While decisions like this one may appear to impair prisoner?s rights as a whole, it does not discount the possibility of post conviction DNA testing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on August 30, 2009 (boomark / email).