Case Summaries

This page summarizes cases and lists sources that demonstrate instances where post-conviction forensic testing confirmed the validity of previous verdicts and sanctions, and in some cases, confirmed the forensic results reported by a crime laboratory at trial. Because there is such intense focus on post-conviction exonerations from many media channels, we felt it was necessary to tell the other side of the story.

Virginia v. Derek Rocco Barnabei
"The Supreme Court's denial of two stay requests followed rulings against Barnabei by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge James Spencer in Richmond. The courts dismissed defense arguments that the state tampered with evidence and that more DNA testing should be done because some evidence disappeared from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 at the Norfolk Circuit Court clerk's office. Barnabei had asked for DNA tests on some of that evidence -- genetic material on Wisnosky's fingernail clippings -- in effort to prove someone else committed the crime. Instead, the DNA tests matched Barnabei. Wisnosky was last seen alive in Barnabei's room in a house he shared with other young men in Norfolk. Her nude and beaten body was found floating in the Lafayette River."
Source: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/barnabei666.htm

Texas v. Ricky Nolen McGinn
"He had eaten his last meal and was about 18 minutes away from going to the death chamber when Governor George W. Bush granted an emergency stay of execution at the request of the state district judge who was presiding over McGinn's case. It was the first -- and so far, only -- time Bush has granted such a stay in 143 execution cases.  The reason for the stay was so that DNA evidence from the trial could be reexamined. McGinn's lawyers contended that DNA testing methods had advanced so much while McGinn was on death row that the evidence from the rape should be retested using current technology. If it could not be proven that McGinn raped Flanary, then the crime did not meet the legal definition of capital murder and his death sentence would have to be removed. When the DNA tests came back, they showed that semen and pubic hair found on the victim positively matched McGinn."  Source: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/mcginn667.htm

Virginia v. Roger Keith Coleman
"Coleman's case had become a focal point in the debate over capital punishment, with opponents insisting that DNA tests would prove that an innocent man was put to death and proponents saying that justice was served. Coleman had maintained his innocence in a series of television and newspaper interviews that generated attention around the world, and his backers tried for years to get the courts or politicians to order the tests. Warner, in his last weeks in office, agreed to allow the analysis and became the nation's first governor to allow post-execution testing."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201210.html

California v. Kevin Cooper
Erin Moriarty, a CBS 48 Hours correspondent, was convinced that Kevin Cooper was innocent.  She aggressively pushed for DNA tests that she was convinced would prove Cooper's innocence in a 1983 murder of a San Bernardino family and another young person.  Moriarty would later admit that "I am haunted by this story.  I took his case believing that there was a possibility that he might be innocent." Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2004-01-28-media-mix_x.htm

Ohio v. Glenn L. Brenner
Trina Bowser, age 21, disappeared after visiting a friend around New Year's day in 1986. The next day, her car was found burning on the side of the expressway in Akron. Trina's body was found in the trunk. Her ankles were bound and her underpants and brassiere were tied around her neck. Her jeans were wrapped around her head. A single set of footprints in the snow was found going away to a point on Southwest Avenue. An auto shop owner identified a unique car that had parked there at 1:30 a.m. He later positively identified Benner's vehicle. Fibers and a paint chip on her clothing was found to be consistent with items found in Benner's home. A criminalist testified that Benner could have been the source of the sperm found inside her body. DNA tests in 2003 confirmed that it was Benner's.
Source: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/benner1010.htm

Ohio v. Brett Hartmann
On 9/9/97, Hartman murdered his friend, 46-year-old Winda Snipes, in her apartment in Akron. Hartman tied Ms. Snipes to her bed with a pair of pantyhose, stabbed her 138 times, slit her throat and cut off her hands, which were never found. Police arrested Hartman after he made several anonymous 911 calls to police, admitting that he was in the apartment and revealing the exact location of Ms. Snipes' body in her apartment. Hartman admitted to a fellow inmate that he murdered Ms. Snipes and cut off her hands to eliminate evidence. DNA testing, conducted during federal appeals in 2003, identified Hartman as the source of semen found in Ms. Snipes' vagina and rectum.
Sources: http://www.ag.state.oh.us/le/prosecuting/capital/detail.asp?id=208

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