New York's highest court has taken up the case of a man convicted of burglary based largely on forensic blood evidence destroyed by floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy.

Peter Austin was convicted in 2013 of two break-ins in the Bronx after his DNA was linked to blood found at the crime scene. Prosecutors were able to introduce the record of the blood-test results although the physical blood evidence had been destroyed in floodwaters.

Austin argues that jurors should have been told they could discount the test results because the physical evidence was destroyed.