After 12 Years, DNA Testing Proves Innocence of Convict

DNA testing by the FBI establishes that a Los Angeles man imprisoned since 1988 for rape and robbery did not commit the crimes, the Riverside County district attorney’s office announced Thursday night.

The FBI tests confirmed results obtained in December by a Richmond forensic scientist who conducted DNA testing on behalf of the Innocence Project at New York’s Cardozo Law School, which has represented inmate Herman Atkins in recent years.

Riverside Dist. Atty. Grover Trask said that after notifying the victim, his office filed papers with a judge asking that Atkins’ conviction be set aside and that he be released as soon as possible from Ironwood state prison in Blythe.

“The case underscores how profoundly advances in science and technology have affected criminal justice,” Trask said. He was referring to the fact that the type of DNA testing that exonerated Atkins was not available at the time of trial.

Atkins, now 34, becomes the 69th person in North America--64 in the U.S. and five in Canada--to be declared innocent of a crime as a result of DNA testing.

Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, said: “We are thrilled that the DNA testing is now complete and that Herman will be released after languishing in prison for 12 years--the last three spent in efforts to secure DNA testing.”

The project, founded by Neufeld and lawyer Barry Scheck, has played a key role in more than half of the cases in which the accused were exonerated by DNA tests over the past decade.

Trask said his office would adopt a new policy, which is expected to make it easier for some convicted criminals to obtain DNA tests. The policy will be based on recommendations made in September by a special commission working for Atty. Gen. Janet Reno.

“Thanks to this relatively new scientific technology, there will be no room for error in a mistaken identity case where DNA is present,” Trask said.

The prosecutor in Atkins’ case initially resisted the Innocence Project’s request for DNA testing. But last year, Innocence Project attorneys and Santa Ana lawyer Douglas Myers filed a new motion for testing. The district attorney did not oppose that motion, and a judge granted the request, setting in motion the process that led to Thursday’s announcement.

Atkins was convicted on the basis of two eyewitness identifications and conventional blood testing. Legal experts have said that eyewitness testimony is often unreliable--particularly in cross-racial situations. Atkins is an African American, and the victim was a young white woman who was raped and robbed at gunpoint in April 1986 in a shoe store in Lake Elsinore.

Atkins was not immediately available for comment. However, in an interview with The Times earlier this month after he learned of test results obtained by Richmond forensic scientist Richard Blake, he said he was “ecstatic” about the prospect of going free. Atkins had maintained his innocence and declared at his sentencing that only he and God knew the truth.

Atkins received a 45-year sentence and spent a portion of his term concurrently serving time for having shot at a Los Angeles police officer.