By KIERA KEMPPAINEN
Capital News Service
LANSING – A Senate bill would give some convicted felons the right to new DNA testing that could help prove their innocence.
Currently, only felony defendants convicted before Jan. 8, 2001, can ask a judge to allow DNA testing of evidence that was not tested for their initial trial.
The bill would expand that privilege to inmates convicted after the 2001 date, and would expand the reasons defendants can reopen their cases through DNA tests.
Jessa Webber, a staff attorney at the Cooley Law School Innocence Project, said the program has been working for a long time to get the state law amended.
Webber said she feels more confident this time.
The bill unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety and is awaiting consideration by the full Senate.
“We were able to work through one issue that was presented at the end of the last session regarding evidence preservation, and we had some meetings with the [Michigan] Sheriff’s Association in 2025 so they felt more comfortable supporting the bill,” Webber said.
Webber said that she hears concerns that the change would “open the floodgates of litigation,” but she does not expect that to be a big issue.
Webber said the Innocence Project has been working with conviction integrity units [in prosecutors’ offices] to agree to post-conviction DNA testing and show the need for changes like those in the bill, while not overburdening the courts.
Currently, defendants convicted after 2001 are able to request post-conviction DNA testing only if the original testing in their case proved inconclusive and if new technology is likely to provide a conclusive result.
Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, introduced the bill.
Under Irwin’s bill, defendants could request DNA testing if there was none for their initial trial, if they request a testing method or technology that is likely to be more accurate than the previous one or if a judge determines it would be in the interest of justice.
Webber said that expanding the pathways to bring such cases back to court is beneficial for felons who had DNA testing done before Touch DNA testing was available.
Touch DNA testing is a method used to collect DNA from skin cells or other biological material left behind when a person touches an object, according to the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction.
“The original statute, because it was passed in 2001, only considered biological material to be bodily fluids. And we now know that there’s a lot more that can be tested for DNA,” Webber said.
Irwin’s bill is cosponsored by Sens. Mary Cavanaugh, D-Redford Township; Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit; Erika Geiss, D-Taylor; and Sue Shink, D-Northfield Township.
The Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan has not yet decided whether to support the bill, according to its communications director, John Perry.