The DNA revolution in Texas continues to evolve creating life altering havoc for the guilty, innocent and not yet convicted.
On of the most publicized brutal Texas murder sprees since Charles Whitman gunned down 14 and wounded 32 others from the 28th Floor Observation Deck at the University of Texas Administration building is back in the news.
Two men, awaiting retrial in the 1991 slayings of four teenage girls at TCBY Austin yogurt shop were released from prison after DNA found in two victims was tested with technology not previously available revealed the possible involvement of an unknown male.
The original suspects, Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen, were awaiting re-trial after their original convictions were overturned based on trial error. Prosecutors maintain that both are still suspects in the case as the DNA match, while adding the specter of a new assailant does not exclude them.
The presiding judge must have felt the state case weak in the extreme as he released both suspects, still facing capital murder re-trials, on their own recognizance with almost non-existent bail restrictions. Both had been incarcerated for the last 10 years on the murder convictions A re-trial will occur sometime in 2010. While the Travis County D.A. maintains that Scott and Springsteen are the assailants, if the prosecution can not identify the owner of the newly discovered DNA, it seems likely both suspects will be acquitted in a new trial.
It appears that whether guilty or not, both Springsteen and Scott can thank the DNA revolution for their new found freedom. They are not alone in those benefiting from new DNA technologies and laws in effect to exonerate the wrongly convicted and identify those who have previously escaped justice.
In 1980 James Lee Woodard was convicted of the rape and murder of his girlfriend. He spent the next 27 years in prison paying for the sins of a murderer. The only problem was that the murderer was not James Woodard. DNA testing not available in 1980 has cleared Mr. Woodard. He was the longest serving wrongfully convicted inmate to be cleared by DNA testing. Where is the real murderer? It is now an open case and there is no statute of limitations on murder but given the passage of time his girlfriend will probably never see justice.
Thomas Clifford McGowan served 23 years of a life sentence for the 1985 rape of a Dallas women before DNA technology finally caught up with the truth. The truth was that he did not commit the rape. The truth was that he did 23 years of hard time for a rapist that will never see justice. The statute of limitations for the rape has since long expired. Mr. McGowan lost his freedom and identity. The rape victim is raped again. She will never see justice. She will carry the knowledge that an innocent person suffered no less than she suffered. A tragic series of events that will tie them together for all time. A reminder that justice is always slow and often unfair in the tragic extreme.
Carrie Krejci was raped in 1985. The serial rapist had attacked several women in her neighborhood. Her attacker has never been apprehended. In 2005 The Dallas Police Department began to use DNA in an attempt to solve cases like Carrie’s even though the statute of limitations has long run. While DNA has not solved her case, her DNA has helped the police link her rapist to numerous other rapes. Maybe one day he will be caught. Carrie will never see justice but her DNA may help others who will.
Donald Andrew Bess 59, was charged last April in connection with a brutal 1984 murder of a 20-year-old Southern Methodist University. The case had gone cold after six months of investigation. Mr. Bess was apprehended because preserved DNA evidence from the crime scene was matched to Mr. Bess through a national database in 2007. He is already serving a life sentence on unrelated convictions but a trial and conviction on the new capital charge could bring the death penalty.
In another DNA revolution development, the Texas legislature recently passed a bill which allows un-prosecuted rape suspects DNA links to their criminal history.
Should those who are successfully able to evade law enforcement for a period of time walk free forever as their reward? Many states are answering in the negative. They are enacting legislation extending or eliminating the statute of limitations for certain violent crimes where DNA evidence is available. Some are eliminating the statute limitations completely for certain violent crimes such as aggravated rape. This is something that had been traditionally reserved for murder. The general rationale as been that the law must finally catch up with science. Some states now allow arrest warrants to be issued based on a “DNA profile” where the suspect is unknown but DNA is available. This effectively stops the statue of limitations from running. As long as the DNA sample remains viable, the perpetrator may be arrested and prosecuted regardless of the amount of time that has passed.
Is this constitutional? Not everyone thinks so-certainly not the ACLU. They have been active in challenging state legislation aimed at using “DNA profiling” to issue arrest warrants.
“We oppose the continued extensions and exceptions to the general principles to the statute of limitations requirements because when so many years pass before charges are brought, it diminishes the accuser’s ability to mount a meaningful defense and erodes the principles upon which we base our criminal justice system”
The science of DNA is the future of law enforcement. It is the future of criminal prosecution. It is the future of judicial activism. It will free the wrongfully convicted. It will stalk the guilty for life. States already require a DNA sample from those convicted of certain violent crimes. This seems reasonable.
What about taking DNA upon arrest? We are then taking it from the legally innocent. Many states and the federal government are calling for legislation authorizing law enforcement to collect DNA from for certain crime suspects when they are booked rather than waiting until after they are convicted of a felony. Will we track those individuals for life? Will we be using to track those with violent histories? What will it be used for in 10 years? What about 50 years? When we experience the joy of James Woodward walking out of prison should we be looking for the “Minority Report”?
