State v. Myers

The Supreme Court reversed the order of the district court denying Defendant’s motion for testing under the DNA Testing Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. 29-4116 to 29-4125, and Defendant’s motion for the appointment of counsel, holding that the district court applied principles governing relief which might be available after testing when it should have limited its consideration to whether it was required to order testing.Defendant was convicted of murder. Nearly twenty years later, Defendant filed a motion pursuant to the DNA Testing Act seeking DNA testing of twenty-six items of evidence taken from the crime scene. After a hearing, the district court denied the motion, concluding that testing wasn’t warranted under section 29-4120(5)(c) because the results would not provide exculpatory evidence. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the court’s order failed to make clear that its denial of DNA testing was based solely on section 29-4120(5), and therefore, the case must be remanded to the district court for a determination under that section based upon the existing record. View "State v. Myers" on Justia Law