State v. George

The district court erred in this case by denying Defendant’s petition for DNA testing of hairs found at the crime scene.Defendant was convicted of kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery, and aggravated intimidation of a witness or victim. Defendant later filed a pro se petition for postconviction DNA testing under Kan. Stat. Ann. 21-2512 asking that collected by previously untested hairs found at the crime scene be tested against the DNA profile of the victim’s boyfriend. In denying the petition, the district court relied on the legal standard from State v. Lackey, 208 P.3d 793 (Kan. 2009)(Lackey I), which had been overruled by State v. Lackey, 286 P.3d 859 (Kan. 2012)(Lackey II), before the district court ruling. The court of appeals affirmed, ruling that while the district court erred in relying on Lackey I, the decision to deny should still be affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings, holding that the lower courts erred because the testing of hair from the crime scene may have produced exculpatory evidence that was “noncumulative” as required by the statute. View "State v. George" on Justia Law