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: Capital Defense Weekly

First look at the week ahead

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

?From the upcoming edition:? Damien Echols v. State, 2010 Ark. 417 (Ark 11/4/2010) “[W]e hold that the circuit court erroneously interpreted the Arkansas DNA testing statutes, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing, at which the circuit court shall hear Echols?s motion for a new trial and consider the DNA-test results ‘with all other evidence in the case regardless of whether the evidence was introduced at trial’ to determine if Echols has ‘establish[ed] by compelling evidence that a new trial would result in acquittal.’ We hold that because the circuit court interpreted the statutes in question incorrectly, it applied the wrong legal standards to Echols?s motion. Furthermore, the statute requires that the court ‘promptly set an early hearing on the petition and response’ unless ‘the petition and the files and records of the proceeding conclusively show that the petitioner is entitled to no relief...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on November 07, 2010 (boomark / email).