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| Virginia Inmate's DNA Test Confirms Rape Conviction |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/24/2002 |
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DNA tests requested by a Virginia inmate who claimed he was wrongfully convicted of rape confirm he committed the crime, prosecutors said recently. James Harvey's case cast a national spotlight on the issue of post-conviction DNA testing last year when a federal judge found that felons have a constitutional right to scientific analysis that could prove their innocence. That ruling was overturned, but Harvey won testing under a 2001 Virginia law that made such testing possible. ''We always knew Harvey was a rapist. Now we know this man who claimed to be innocent is a liar,'' Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. told The Washington Post recently. Harvey, 60, was found guilty of rape in 1989 and is serving a 40-year sentence. DNA testing was not done at the time, and the victim could not identify her attackers. However, a witness testified that Harvey confessed to him. The New York-based Innocence Project had asked Horan to consent to testing in Harvey's case, but the prosecutor declined. The lawyers appealed. ''The state would have saved a great deal of time, effort and money had they consented to this test four years ago,'' Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, told the newspaper. Two convicted felons have been tested under the Virginia law; one was exonerated in a 1982 rape. The results in the second case were inconclusive. |
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