Recently in DNA Testing Category

"I'm bitter. I'm angry," Charles Chatman, 47, told the Associated Press last night from jail. "But I'm not angry or bitter to the point where I want to hurt anyone or get revenge." He now plans to work with the Texas Innocence Project. He's the 15th person in Dallas County to be freed by DNA evidence.

They're again calling on Gov. Bob Riley to allow testing of evidence in the case of Thomas Arthur. The state had planned to put Arthur to death on Dec. 6, but the Supreme Court halted the execution around 5 p.m. the day before. Testing the evidence could put the issue of Arthur's guilt or innocence to rest once and for all. "Riley is called on to make many difficult decisions as governor. But this isn't a difficult one. Riley should order DNA testing for any Death Row inmate who disputes his guilt and whose case involved evidence that could be screened," says the Birmingham News.

Arthur was set to die by lethal injection, today (Dec. 6) after being in prison 20 years for a murder he says he didn't commit. Some evidence in the case has not been tested for DNA, despite a likelihood that it will point questions about his guilt (or innocence) to rest. Gov. Bob Riley's office has not responded to the Innocence Project's requests for testing, and has refused to hold off on the execution until testing could be complete (it would take just a few weeks).

The Supreme Court stopped the execution (pdf) while they decide if they will hear Arthur's appeal. Previously, they denied his motion for DNA testing based on his failure to meet legal time lines for appeals.

Arthur's daughter, his attorneys, the Innocence Project and Amnesty International have all requested a meeting with the Governor to discuss the case, but he's not agreed to meet with any of them.

"Chad Heins was exonerated in Florida this morning when prosecutors dropped pending charges against him for the murder of his sister-in-law, a crime he has always said he didn’t commit. New DNA evidence proves that another man committed the crime and Heins will be released this afternoon. He is the 209th person exonerated by DNA testing," says the Innocence Project.

Earlier, The Florida Times-Union says DNA bolsters Heins' innocence claim.

"Allowing an execution to go forward without first conducting DNA testing that could scientifically confirm or refute guilt not only risks putting to death an innocent man, but also does irreversible damage to the public's confidence in the state's criminal justice system and its elected officials," said Innocence Project co-director Peter Neufeld and staff attorney Olga Akselrod in a letter (pdf) to Gov. Bob Riley. The state of Alabama hasn't responded to requests from Arthur, set to be executed Thursday, to have evidence tested that could definitively prove his innocence, or his guilt.

Called one of the organization's "core human rights tools," urgent action alerts are designed to mobilize tens of thousands of people to send appeals on behalf of those in danger of what the Amnesty International sees as human rights violations. The organization issued an updated alert (pdf) for Thomas Arthur, scheduled to be executed this week (Dec. 6) in Alabama, on Thursday.

Arthur maintains his innocence and has requested DNA testing of evidence that has never been examined before. Alabama has vigorously opposed Arthur's requests.

Prosecutors used "violent" drawings Tim Masters made in high school as evidence against him in a murder trial of a classmate. He was convicted about eight years ago, but, "(n)ow, prosecutors say they are ready to move forward with DNA testing on evidence collected from an alternate suspect, who may have also had ties with prosecutors in the Masters conviction," according to the Bournemouth Innocence Project.

"In a National Institute of Justice study of 10,000 cases in the 1990s, 25 percent of suspects were cleared before trial by DNA tests. How many defendants didn’t have additional evidence to refute a questionable eyewitness identification or unreliable science?" asks the Bournemouth Innocence Project.

$8 million in funds given to the Justice Department by Congress to help pay for DNA-testing in state cases where innocence could be proved hasn't been spent, mostly because DOJ guidelines makes it near impossible for states to qualify to use the money, according to USA Today. Meanwhile, law enforcement spent over $200 in the same time period on DNA tests used to find criminals and prove guilt. (hat tip)

Rick Walker will receive $2.75 million to settle his wrongful conviction claim against Santa Clara County. "Walker, 51, was released from prison in 2003 after DNA tests and other new evidence cleared him of the stabbing and suffocation death of his former girlfriend Lisa Hopewell, a Cupertino resident," says Palo Alto Online.