Prosecutors Fighting the Use of DNA Evidence in Order to Save Face

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Since DNA testing became available two decades ago, about 280 convicted felons in the United States have been exonerated of their crimes. In the process, serious flaws in the legal system have become exposed, including misconduct by law enforcement and prosecutors.
 
Today, despite the fact that genetic testing has proven itself to be a reliable means of determining innocence, some prosecutors continue to fight off attempts to free those wrongly convicted. In some cases district attorneys “have spun creative theories” to keep convictions from being overturned.
 
“They are attached to their convictions,” Brandon Garrett, a law professor at the University of Virginia, told The New York Times, “and they don’t want to see their work called into question.”
 
In one Florida case, prosecutors tried to explain away pubic hair found at the scene of a rape that didn’t belong to the man convicted of the rape by saying it may have been left behind by movers who carried the victim’s bed. In another case in Lake County, Illinois, Juan Rivera was convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl. Although sperm was found inside the child, it didn’t belong to Rivera. Prosecutors claimed that the child had consensual sex with someone else before Rivera raped her (without producing sperm).
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
 
The Prosecution’s Case Against DNA (by Andrew Martin, New York Times)

Prosecutors Fight DNA Testing (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov) 

Comments

ridicu 12 years ago
prosecutors, judges, politicians, lobbyists, doctors, generals, police chiefs, government technocrats... so many people involved in these "prestige" professions are big, fat ego maniac self-righteous swaggering buffoons who have no ability to see outside their self made boxes. their minds are totally left brained, ie, all black and white without any ability to see the big picture, shades of gray or see another side of a story. they love the hierarchy of power, following orders from those above them and giving orders to those below, and always jockeying to climb the social and political ladder. to them, it's all about who they know, and mutual favors. "vaccines are completely safe!" the doctor declares, because a more prestigious board of doctors told him so, and by golly, he wants to be on that same board and invited to be on the boards of the pharma companies. "i can't let this defendant question our tax system" thinks the judge who fears what fellow judges on the government dole will think of him for pursuing truth and reinterpreting laws that are tyrannical. "he's guilty!" the prosecutor declares, totally certain that his judgement is perfect and conveniently ignoring and covering up a hundred pieces of evidence or facts that suggest otherwise. "i must have this conviction to shore up my massive ego!", truth be damned. the article is all about personal power - or rather, lack of it by those who try to emote an abundance of it... all intelligent men who did great on their sats, went to good schools, yet have no wisdom, no inquiry of mind, no ability to synthesize information, and who will never pursue truth that does not fit in their pre-programmed paradigm.
Jon 12 years ago
pasco county, florida. prosecutors work with fhp, fdle, pasco sheriff to create false evidence and use false witnesses all the time. even when they are caught they still keep doing it. the news knows this goes on and i am sure it is happening all over. policeabuse.weebly.com
Rhythmhawk 12 years ago
i know that "justice is blind" - it's because of ignorant prosecutors who, themselves, do not adhere to nor uphold the very law and constitution that they swore an oath to adhere to and uphold. how can it be a viable excuse that an 11 year old had "consentual sex" with someone?? isn't that still considered rape?? (albeit statutory.) and just how stupid and ignorant do prosecutors believe we are by stating that a pubic hair was left behind by a furniture mover

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