The system of criminal prosecution is supposed to achieve justice. Justice for the accused. Justice for victims. And the lynchpin of a just outcome is a fair trial. Without it, the results are, at best, suspect, and at worst, lead to an innocent person serving time or being executed for a crime they didn't commit.
Today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took an important step to correct an improper use of power in an adverserial system. He issued a memo to all U.S. attorneys overturning the practice of seeking DNA waivers as part of plea agreements. The policy, initiated in the Bush administration, directed prosecutors to seek DNA waivers whenever possible, barring potentially innocent people from proving such in the future. This practice is particularly nefarious when one considers the fact that may factually innocent people accept plea agreements and that more than 95% of federal convictions are from guilty pleas.
According to The Innocence Project, at least 260 wrongly convicted people have been exonerated by DNA evidence. And in 2004, the Congress passed the Innocence Protection Act, which allowed federal inmates to seek post-conviction DNA tests to prove their innocence. These DNA waivers were designed to do an end run on the Innocence Protection Act and the accused's right to fair trial. The DNA waivers bar defendants from ever requesting DNA evidence. EVER. That's just wrong.
I agree with Steve Benjamin, a Richmond lawyer and vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers quoted in the Washington Post - Holder's decision is "a no-brainer. Truly, "There should never be any bar to a person's ability to establish their innocence.''