DNA and Prisoner Release



DNA and Prisoner Release

Introduction

The routine incorporation of forensic DNA profiling into the criminal justice systems of the United States has been widely promoted as a device for improving the quality of investigative and prosecutorial processes. From its first uses in the 1980s, in cases of serious crime, to the now daily collection, analysis and comparison of genetic samples in the National DNA Database, DNA profiling has become a standard instrument of policing and a powerful evidential resource for prosecutors(Flynn, 2010). The rapid spread of the routine use of forensic DNA profiling, with its promise to introduce seemingly infallible levels of proof and certainty into criminal investigations, has been promoted widely as a device for improving the quality of criminal justice decision making. This view has been consistently expressed in the United States since the National Research Council Committee on DNA Forensic Science in 1996.

Case Analysis

Case 1

Nicholas James Yarris is 42 years old. In 1982, when he was 21, Mr. Yarris was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, for the abduction, rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig. During the 21 years that he has spent on death row, Mr. Yarris has consistently and emphatically maintained his innocence. In the late 1980s, Mr. Yarris became one of the first of Pennsylvania's death sentenced prisoners to demand DNA testing. Since then, Mr. Yarris has been unrelenting in his pursuit of DNA analysis of the evidence in his case. He has never wavered from his belief that DNA testing would provide the key to his freedom(Hartley, 2000).

DNA testing has now established that Mr. Yarris is innocent; that he was wrongly convicted of rape, kidnaping and murder; and that he has wrongly spent half of his life on Pennsylvania's death row. Therefore, on Monday, July 28, 2003, Mr. Yarris' lawyers will file the reports of these stunning test results, along with a Motion for Mr. Yarris' release, with Chief Judge James T. Giles of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Yarris is currently represented by Christina Swarns, Michael Wiseman and Stuart Lev of the Capital Habeas Corpus Unit of the Philadelphia Federal Defender and Peter Goldberger, Esq., of the Law Office of Peter Goldberger. The Federal Defender Office, with the cooperation of the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, retained nationally renowned forensic DNA scientist, Edward T. Blake of Forensic Science Associates in Richmond, California, to analyze the physical evidence in this case. All of the physical evidence, which was in the custody of the Delaware County police and prosecutors, was provided to Dr. Blake. Dr. Blake conducted a comprehensive examination of this evidence and uncovered DNA on three separate items: (1) in skin cells that were found in the gloves that were left in Mrs. Craig's car (the prosecution contended that the gloves belonged to the killer); (2) in sperm cells that were found on Mrs. Craig's underpants (the prosecution argued the sperm was a product of the rape); and ...