DNA can convict... and unconvict
DNA evidence can seemingly make a case a done-deal, however it can just as convincingly exonerate a wrongly-convicted person.
There are several high-profile organizations that seek to right these wrongs, among them exonerated.org, the Innocence Project and The Justice Project
This morning, during a captious televised debate between Andrew Cuomo and Jeanine Pirro, candidates for NY State Attorney General, the case of Jeffrey Deskovic became an issue, Deskovic, convicted in the 1991 rape & murder of Angela Correa, then a high school classmate of Deskovic. Recent DNA testing linked the crime to another man, who is currently serving a life term for murder and who has now confessed to killing Correa.
During this morning's debate, the focus turned towards whether Pirro, the Westchester Attorney General, had ignored Deskovic's pleas for a review of DNA evidence, since he was initially convicted based solely on testimonial evidence.
Deskovic was convicted based almost entirely on a "confession" that he gave after spending approximately nine hours in police custody without his parents or attorneys and without access to food. During that time, he was taken to Putnam County and held in a small room for at least six hours for a polygraph exam. At the end of the interrogation/exam, he was curled up under a desk in the fetal position, sobbing. Police had initially focused on Deskovic, a sophomore in high school at the time, because he seemed fascinated with the details of the case and offered to help them investigate it.
Mr. Deskovic was freed from jail last month.
posted by Mr. Barkan @ 11:45 AM
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