DNA testing gets a boost in Australia

There is still a shameful amount of resistance to allowing it in many jurisdictions worldwide

A MAN convicted of brutally murdering a young female tourist on the Gold Coast almost 20 years ago is believed to be the first prisoner in Australia granted access to DNA evidence to try to gain his freedom. And he has Griffith University law students to thank.

Shane Sebastian Davis has proclaimed his innocence since he was jailed for stomping 19-year-old South African Michelle Cohn to death at a Surfers Paradise holiday resort on Boxing Day, 1990. After an 11-day trial, a Supreme Court jury took just over three hours to convict Davis of murdering Cohn, whose body was found in a poolside toilet.

After seven years of lobbying by the Griffith University Innocence Project, the State Government has agreed to let DNA evidence used to convict Davis be re-tested. The Innocence Project is a collaboration of academics, lawyers and law students who work to free prisoners they believe have been wrongly convicted. Project co-founder, high-profile Gold Coast criminal lawyer Chris Nyst, said Queensland was the first state to allow access to DNA evidence to be re-tested and described the move as a "landmark" development.

He said former attorney-general Kerry Shine had approved the re-testing earlier this year. "This is the first time DNA innocence testing - outside of a pardon application - will take place in Queensland," Mr Nyst said. "In fact, it's the first time anywhere in Australia an attorney-general has personally intervened to allow such a process."

Mr Nyst said the re-testing of DNA evidence could show someone else committed the crime. "If the wrong person is in prison, that means the real perpetrator is free to commit further crimes - that's something no one wants to see." Mr Nyst said almost 250 prisoners had been exonerated in the US as a result of DNA re-examination.

Mr Nyst said advances in DNA technology had revealed potential shortcomings in many earlier DNA cases. He is pushing for permanent protocols to allow prisoners access to DNA evidence. "There is always the potential for human error and that can lead to wrongful convictions," he said.

The Griffith University Innocence Project was established in 2001. It employs students to examine cases under the direction of pro bono lawyers and academics.

Original report here



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