County to Offer Some Prisoners DNA Help

Responding to the ongoing national controversy over wrongly convicted inmates, local prosecutors said Thursday they will help pay part of the costs of DNA testing for some prisoners convicted of murder, rape and other crimes in Ventura County’s courts.

The decision, which could result in convictions being overturned, is significant because the burden of proving a person was wrongfully convicted has always been left to the defense lawyers who handle appeals.

Ventura County is one of the first jurisdictions in the state to make the offer. The county was also the first to use such “genetic fingerprinting” as evidence in a California court more than a decade ago.

Defense attorneys hailed the decision as a landmark event.

“They don’t have a duty to do this. This is outstanding,” lawyer Robert Schwartz said. “To be honest, it’s above and beyond the call of duty.”

The testing, which matches the genetic makeup of a suspect with tissue samples found at a crime scene, will be used mostly by defendants who were convicted before such testing became widely accepted about 10 years ago. It is available only to defendants who have been convicted at trial and file an appeal.

While post-verdict DNA testing will most likely affect only a small handful of old cases, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, in a letter announcing the decision, said it is necessary to guard against injustice.

“While I have great confidence in the validity of our convictions, I’m sure you will agree, one injust conviction is one too many,” he said in a letter mailed last month to Public Defender Ken Clayman.

The plan, which went into effect last month but has not been used by any criminal defendants so far, has the prosecutor’s office paying half the cost of a DNA test up-front and paying the whole bill if a defendant is exonerated by the test, prosecutors said.

The cost of a DNA test runs between $2,000 and $5,000, authorities said.

“We’re not going on wild goose chases, we are going to do it in cases where it will answer critical questions,” said Richard Holmes, supervisor of the district attorney’s major crimes division. “We are interested in justice.”

Applicants for the testing will be closely scrutinized, Holmes said, and prosecutors warn a strong cause must exist to show that testing is necessary to exonerate a convicted criminal.

Holmes said his office has always reviewed claims of innocence based on newly discovered evidence but that this is the first time prosecutors will actually help pay the costs of helping prove a person’s innocence.

“A defense attorney has a job to protect his client’s interests, and our job is to do justice,” Holmes said. “At times we can get together and have the same objective in mind.”

With its decision, Ventura County joins Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties in the offer to pay for DNA testing, said Larry Brown, executive director of the California District Attorneys’ Assn. in Sacramento.

According to Brown, San Diego has by far the most aggressive plan. Since June that county has been culling through more than 500 criminal cases of people convicted prior to 1992 to check for matters in which DNA testing should be done.

Riverside County started its plan last spring following the case of a man released from prison after serving 12 years for a rape for which he was wrongly convicted, Brown said.