Kentucky rejects question of multiple DNA tests

"Inmates in Kentucky are entitled to only a single DNA test of old evidence regardless of what, if any, results an initial test produces, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled yesterday," according to a Cincinnati.com article this morning.

"The decision is the first time the limits of Kentucky's law have been defined in the seven years since testing has been allowed," the article says, but, while the court only looked at the case, the decision could affect DNA testing requests by other death row inmates. ( Bowling v. Kentucky )

"-While 47 states allow access to post-conviction DNA testing -- Oklahoma and Massachusetts don't -- the laws vary in scope and substance from state to state. Kentucky's law includes a provision that allows for multiple DNA tests, but only if the person making the request can show that the requested exam is significantly different than prior tests and may resolve an issue not covered by previous tests."

Two recent noteworthy DNA cases are the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year holding that DNA tests were not constitutional rights in District Attorney’s Office, Third Judicial District v. Osborne; and the Ohio Supreme Court’s last May holding that prior DNA testing was not 'definitive' if new testing methods were now available that could detect information that old tests couldn’t, in State v. Prade.