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| Prisoners stay away from DNA tests |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/12/2001 |
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More than three months after Ohio offered to pay for DNA testing for eligible death row inmates, none of the 201 prisoners facing the death penalty has applied for the tests. Prosecutors say the dearth of applicants reflects the strength of their guilty convictions. But defense attorneys say the rules for the tests heavily favor prosecutors and limit eligibility to a handful of prisoners. 'No defense lawyer in his or her right mind would permit a death penalty client to participate in this lopsided program,'' said Greg Meyers, chief of the state public defender office's death penalty division. Prosecutors have the final say on which applicants are accepted, and Meyers argues the lack of an appeals process erodes a basic judicial principle - one side opposing the other with the judge in the middle. 'This law makes the attorney general or county prosecutor the key boxer in the ring and the referee in the ring at the same time,'' Meyers said. The DNA policy was adopted by Ohio's attorney general in November and modeled on laws in Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Washington. Joe Case, the attorney general's spokesman wouldn't say how many inmates are eligible to apply, however, other than that the number is 'small.'' Applications are limited to inmates for whom DNA tests were not available or not admissible during their trials. Original samples of material to be tested must have been kept secure over the years and not contaminated. An inmate must also successfully argue that there is a possibility that DNA testing would exonerate him - eliminating him as a suspect in a rape-murder, for example, by proving seminal fluid at the scene wasn't his. Nationwide, 95 death row inmates have been freed since 1973, 10 of whom were exonerated by DNA tests, according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center. |
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