Project DNA: Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The pertinent portion of Massachusetts’s postconviction DNA testing statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278A Section 3(d), provides that the court shall order postconviction DNA testing if, inter alia,

The moving party shall file with the motion an affidavit stating that the moving party is factually innocent of the offense of conviction and that the requested forensic or scientific analysis will support the claim of innocence. A person who pleaded guilty or nolo contendere in the underlying case may file a motion. The court shall not find that identity was not or could not have been a material issue in the underlying case because of the plea. A person who is alleged to have, or admits to having, made a statement that is or could be incriminating may file a motion under this chapter. The court shall not find that identity was not or should not have been a material issue in the underlying case because the moving party made, or is alleged to have made, an incriminating statement. If the moving party entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to the offense of conviction or made an incriminating statement, the moving party shall state in the affidavit that the claim of factual innocence is made notwithstanding the plea or incriminating statement (emphasis added)

So, where does that leave pleading defendants? 

As the language of the statute makes clear, pleading defendants can seek postconviction DNA testing in Massachusetts.

-CM