Panel Upholds Conviction Despite DNA Lost in Storm
The government was not at fault when Hurricane Sandy flooded a warehouse where blood evidence from a burglary case was stored, a state appeals court has ruled, and thus the defendant was not entitled to an adverse inference charge to the jury when that evidence was unavailable for trial.
December 29, 2015 at 06:06 AM
5 minute read
The government was not at fault when Hurricane Sandy flooded a warehouse where blood evidence from a burglary case was stored, a Manhattan-based state appeals court ruled, and thus the defendant was not entitled to an adverse inference charge to the jury when that evidence was unavailable for trial a few weeks later.
A 3-1 panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, noted in People v. Austin, 1712/10, that the blood had been tested before trial, and an expert testified, based on that test, that DNA in the blood evidence found at the crime scene matched Peter Austin's DNA.
Mark Zeno, of the Center for Appellate Litigation, who is representing Austin, said that the case apparently is the first to reach an appellate court turning on evidence destroyed during Sandy.
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