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SCOTUS DNA ruling not a problem for Texas, but maybe for Sotomayor

A number of readers have asked my views on last week's Supreme Court decision in the Osborne case out of Alaska where a slim, 5-4 majority ruled there is no constitutional right to postconviction DNA testing.My first, admittedly parochial thought: Texans needn't particularly care. We have strong statutory access to post-conviction DNA testing in Chapter 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to media accounts, 46 states have DNA testing statutes on the books, and Texas has one of the best.However, in the big picture, at least on the margins, the Osborne decision, as the Washington Post put it, "increased the risk that the wrongly convicted could be kept behind bars. Michael Landauer at the Dallas News Death Penalty Blog laid out the crux of the issue facing the court:I'm torn...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 21, 2009 (boomark / email).