US Constitutional right of access to DNA testing |
The Constitutional right of access to DNA testing is a legal precedent established on April 16, 2001 which states that convicted felons have the right to receive DNA
testing to try to exonerate themselves of past crimes.
The case was brough forth by James
Harvey, who argued that his 14th and 5th
Amendment rights had been violated when the state of Virginia refused to
re-test his DNA regarding a 1990 case in which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for rape.
District Judge Albert Bryan wrote that Fairfax County, Virginia prosecutor Robert Horan violated Harvey's civil rights when he
refused to allow testing on DNA evidence collected for Harvey's trial. The judge ordered the tests for Harvey and opened to door
for felons to receive new DNA testing in the future.
Resources
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