The Virginia State Crime Commission yesterday unanimously endorsed emergency legislation allowing volunteer lawyers to notify felons that potential DNA evidence has been found in their old forensic case files.
Under the legislation, the state police will be permitted to provide the lawyers with what would otherwise be confidential criminal history information -- provided the lawyers agree not to further disseminate it -- to help find people convicted of crimes decades ago.
Three years ago then-Gov. Mark R. Warner ordered what has turned out to be the review of more than 530,000 case files from 1973 through 1988, before DNA testing was available. Several state forensic serologists taped swabs or snippets of biological material in the old files.
Warner ordered a sample testing of 31 cases in 1994 after three men were exonerated of rape convictions by DNA testing of the material discovered in the case files.
There were two more exonerations in the 31 sample cases leading Warner to order a full review. In eight of the 34 cases completed since, the DNA of the suspect was not found by testing, though that does not mean any of the individuals are innocent.
According to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science yesterday, 2,178 files held evidence suitable for testing and also had a named suspect. Of that number, 740 were convicted of serious crimes against people, such as rape, murder or assault.
Of the 740, 592 have been sent to an outside lab for testing and the evidence returned in 406 cases. Certificates of analysis have been issued for 34 of those cases.
A total of 1,050 people -- some were not convicted of serious crimes -- are to be notified the material was found and that it may or may not be tested. More than 200 of them are known to have died.
Many are still in prison and others have been notified by mail. But it is not clear where hundreds of them are. Some 200 lawyers and others across the state volunteered to help find and notify them earlier this year.
In October the commission, impatient with the slow pace of notifications, created a study group to find ways around legal impediments barring volunteer lawyers from assisting. It was that group's recommendations that were endorsed yesterday.
If the General Assembly passes the legislation on an emergency basis, the volunteers could get to work next month.
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