Justices Rule Inmates Don’t Have Right to DNA Tests
| By Mike Collins - Jun 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm EDT |
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Categories: Equality / Civil Rights, Civil Liberties / Privacy, Effective & Ethical Government, Crime & Penal Reform
Categories: Equality / Civil Rights, Civil Liberties / Privacy, Effective & Ethical Government, Crime & Penal Reform
In a 5-to-4 decision, the court found against William G. Osborne, a convicted rapist from Alaska.
“DNA testing has an unparalleled ability both to exonerate the wrongly convicted and to identify the guilty,” the majority conceded, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “The availability of new DNA testing, however, cannot mean that every criminal conviction, or even every conviction involving biological evidence, is suddenly in doubt.”
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a dissent expressing his dismay that the majority had chosen to approve of Alaska’s denial of the evidence sought by the defendant. “The DNA test Osborne seeks is a simple one, its cost modest, and its results uniquely precise,” Justice Stevens said.
Source NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/us/19scotus.html?hp
“DNA testing has an unparalleled ability both to exonerate the wrongly convicted and to identify the guilty,” the majority conceded, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “The availability of new DNA testing, however, cannot mean that every criminal conviction, or even every conviction involving biological evidence, is suddenly in doubt.”
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a dissent expressing his dismay that the majority had chosen to approve of Alaska’s denial of the evidence sought by the defendant. “The DNA test Osborne seeks is a simple one, its cost modest, and its results uniquely precise,” Justice Stevens said.
Source NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/us/19scotus.html?hp
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