WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether condemned prisoners may make a civil rights claim for DNA evidence, in the case of a Texas convict whose death was postponed in March within an hour of his scheduled execution.
The dispute pits inmate rights against states' interests in the finality of convictions against the backdrop of advances in DNA technology. Since 1989, according to the Innocence Project, affiliated with the Cardozo School of Law in New York, more than 250 people in 34 states have been exonerated through DNA testing .
The vast majority of states allow for some DNA testing after conviction. Wednesday's case focused on a convict's opportunity to invoke federal civil rights law when he is denied access to DNA evidence under state law.
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