Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Federal prosecutors during the Bush administration sometimes required defendants to waive their right to DNA testing as part of a guilty plea. Justice Department officials at that time argued there was no point allowing those who had confessed to their crimes to use genetic testing later on to get their convictions overturned. But Attorney General Eric Holder may not be in favor of continuing this policy, as evidenced by his recent order for Justice lawyers to review DNA waivers.
Legal advocates who favor eliminating the waivers argue that a guilty plea is not always proof of a person’s guilt. Suspects will admit to committing certain crimes in order to lessen their sentence as part of plea deals between prosecutors and defense lawyers.
“It’s a mean-spirited policy,” Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, said of the DNA waivers in The Washington Post. “Truth, ascertained by science, should trump the finality of a conviction.”
Neufeld added that the Bush policy ran counter to the spirit and intent of the Innocence Protection Act of 2004, which allows federal prisoners to request post-conviction DNA tests to prove their innocence. Such testing has resulted so far in the overturning of 240 cases, including 17 involving the death penalty.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Justice Dept. to Review Bush Policy on DNA Test Waivers (by Jerry Markon, Washington Post)
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