Federal Judiciary

Court clarifies DNA review

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

The Supreme Court, ruling Monday on a granted case that never came up for oral argument, decided summarily that flaws in presenting DNA evidence during a criminal trial do not necessarily undermine the value of a conviction based in part on that evidence.  After having the Nevada rape case of Troy Brown under review for nearly a full year, the Court ruled in an unsigned opinion and rejected two constitutional challenges to the conviction.  It sent back to lower courts a third challenge.  The decision based mainly on a legal ground that neither side in the case believed remained in issue — the sufficiency of the DNA evidence, under Jackson v. Virginia (1979).

The case is McDaniel v. Brown (08-559). It was granted review last Jan. 26, and had been set for oral argument on Oct. 13, but that was canceled in September.

Brown was convicted of the brutal rape 16 years ago of a nine-year-old girl who lived nearby him in a trailer park in Carlin, Nev.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on January 11, 2010 (boomark / email).