Project DNA: Louisiana

Louisiana

The pertinent portion of Louisiana’s postconviction DNA testing statute, La. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 926.1(B)(1), provides that a defendant seeking postconviction DNA testing  must provide, inter alia, 

A factual explanation of why there is an articulable doubt, based on competent evidence whether or not introduced at trial, as to the guilt of the petitioner in that DNA testing will resolve the doubt and establish the innocence of the petitioner.

So, where does that leave pleading defendants? 

As Rebecca Stephens notes in Disparities in Postconviction Remedies for Those Who Plead Guilty and Those Convicted at Trial: A Survey of State Statutes and Recommendations for Reform, “[t]he Arizona, Delaware, and Louisiana forensic testing statutes…include references to trial,” which would generally mean that pleading defendants cannot seek postconviction DNA testing. That said, the Louisiana statute references “competent evidence whether or not introduced at trial.” This seems to imply that defendants can seek postconviction DNA testing even if there wasn’t a trial…because the defendant pleaded guilty. As far as I can tell, though, the issue has never been litigated in Louisiana.

-CM