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MD High Court Rules on Defense DNA Evidnce

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BALTIMORE (AP) - Maryland's highest court has ruled that criminal defendants can't present evidence of DNA matches to other suspects at trial unless additional testing has confirmed the results.
 
In a ruling last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals found that defense attorneys have the same burden as prosecutors when presenting DNA evidence.
 
The court's ruling upholds the conviction of two Maryland men on charges including attempted murder and burglary stemming from a 2009 Montgomery County home invasion. Both men are serving life sentences.
 
At trial, one of the men's attorneys wanted to present evidence that DNA found at the scene was consistent with two other men.
 
But in last week's ruling, the high court found the attorney never confirmed the DNA was a match through additional testing, as required by Maryland law.
 

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.