the headline is tendentious, even for the AP. all the SCOTUS said, quite reasonable and rationally, is that use of
DNA testing is up to the states. for the SCOTUS to have ruled in favor would have to removed this entire area
of law from the reach of legislatures.
and of course, this will be framed as a covertly racist issue . . .. the theme will be "minorities will suffer because the
conservative judges votes to deny them access to this technology".
what is TRULY scary is that four justices voted in favor.
and it would have set off 5 million demands for DNA tests from every convict in every prison in the US.
High court says convicts lack right to DNA testingWASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Thursday that a convicted rapist has no constitutional right to test biological evidence used at his trial in Alaska years earlier, leaving it to the states to decide when prisoners get access to genetic evidence that might prove their innocence.
In a 5-4 vote, with the conservative justices in the majority, the court said it would not second-guess states or force them routinely to look again at criminal convictions.
William Osborne, convicted in a brutal assault on a prostitute in Alaska 16 years ago, sued for the right to test the contents of a blue condom the victim says was used by her attacker. A federal appeals court said he had a right to conduct the test.
Alaska is one of only three states without a law that gives convicts access to genetic evidence. The others are Massachusetts and Oklahoma.
Testing so far has led to the exoneration of 240 people who had been found guilty of murder, rape and other violent crimes, according to the Innocence Project, which works to free people who were wrongly convicted.
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