STEVE SHEPPARD

Supreme Court Finds No Right to Post-Conviction DNA Tests
FindLaw guest columnist and University of Arkansas law professor Steve Sheppard discusses an important end-of-Term Supreme Court decision in which a majority of the Court held that a man convicted of rape had no right, under the Constitution's Due Process clause, to have a test done, at his own expense, on the DNA in the evidence that was used against him at trial. Sheppard argues that the majority -- in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts -- perpetrated a grave injustice here. In particular, Sheppard contends that some of the points Roberts made -- for instance, that DNA testing is available in most jurisdictions anyway, and that the states or Congress may well create rights to access DNA -- are irrelevant to the constitutional issue. If due process means anything, Sheppard argues, it must mean access to evidence that could prove that one is innocent of the crime of which one has been convicted. Wednesday, July 8, 2009