Miscellaneous

Virginia Attorneys Wanted for DNA Project

By Anne Skove, Esq.

No, they don't want to clone you. Thank goodness for small favors.

The Virginia State Bar put out a call for volunteers to help the state Department of Forensic Science (DFS) accomplish an unfunded (is there any other kind?) mandate.

In 2005, then-Virginia Governor Mark "Ken Doll" Warner (not to be confused with Senator John "Mr. La Liz" Warner), concerned about exonerations, "ordered the full-scale review and testing of any biological evidence remaining in the 1973-1988 case files" of the DFS.

Three years later, the General Assembly required the DFS's governing board to notify convicted defendants of the existence of physical evidence found in DFS case files, and to notify such defendants as to whether any DNA testing was being conducted in their case.

That's where the lack of funding and concomitant need for volunteers comes in. Pro bono assistance is needed to notify defendants properly. Training and technical assistance will be provided by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project.

See Pro Bono Help Needed for DNA Notification, Steven D. Benjamin, Virginia State Bar (June 25, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on July 01, 2008 (boomark / email).