Supreme Court Allows State Prisoners to Seek DNA Evidence Through US Civil Rights Law - News - ABA Journal

Supreme Court Allows State Prisoners to Seek DNA Evidence Through US Civil Rights Law - News - ABA Journal
Blogger Bob's comments: Good article on another way to get justice through DNA evidence. Some of the questions, apart from who picks up the costs and can give the time for such actions (assuming jailhouse lawyering is not an alternative) and whether the District Attorneys' offices across the state may have any new duties/ responsibilities under this case, (1) does defense counsel have a duty to bring the action where DNA tested was requested by the defense lawyer, but denied [and now there is an appropriate remedy], (2) does prior defense counsel, in cases when DNA testing was demanded but denied, have a fiduciary duty to notify all their clients (not unlike a probate or trust lawyer having a duty to advise clients of significant changes in the law) and (3) is the US District court system which requires electronic filing, an undue burden on the prison population that may elect to force DNA testing via the 42 USC § 1983 tool (or is that not a problem as the relief only gives State Prisoners the right to bring the action in State court?). A practical problem is whether the 42 USC § 1983 can be used to force other people's DNA testing where a close relative might be, in the "plaintiff's" view a possible perp?