Get Full Information About What Was Done Previously
If DNA testing was conducted but not used at the original trial, find out why. Sometimes DNA testing was performed, but not used at trial, because the laboratory declared the results inconclusive. It may be worthwhile to reexamine the results to determine whether they might now be viewed as conclusive. Even if a laboratory has a policy against reevaluating prior interpretations of its own work, numerous outside experts with excellent credentials are available from crime labs, universities, and research and medical facilities who can opine on the results of a prior test. One of the advantages of DNA testing is that each test creates actual data that can be independently evaluated by experts at a later date.
Sometimes DNA test results were available, but not used at trial because the results were received so close to the trial that they were excluded by the trial judge as untimely, or they were not used by the prosecutor to avoid a continuance for the defense to prepare to respond to the evidence.
Prosecutors also may not have introduced DNA evidence because they were unsure of its admissibility based on conflicting or nonexistent appellate law, because they were uncomfortable with the science that would be encountered pretrial and/or at trial, or because they were uncomfortable in presenting statistical evidence and answering statistical challenges.
Laboratories have different policies about the information they routinely make available. Some laboratories provide an entire package, including final reports, final results (x-rays, films, or photos of gels or dot blots), and the case notes of the examiner. Other laboratories, accustomed to the former Federal system, in which the defense was entitled only to discovery of the final, conclusory laboratory report, initially provide only reports and will later forward other materials on request. The entire package may be needed to evaluate results of prior DNA testing.
Go to the Next Section: Assessing the Viability of the Claim
Download the complete document: Postconviction DNA Testing: Recommendations for Handling Requests (Adobe PDF)
