Like lots of people, I probably know more about DNA from watching too many episodes of “CSI: Miami” than I ever learned in science class. Actually, way back when I was a student, the whole study of DNA was in its infancy and I probably wouldn’t have learned about it even if I had been listening, which, in science class, I must admit I probably wasn’t.
Everyone has heard of DNA now of course. Although most people can’t tell you the long name of the acid we call “DNA,” but we all pretty much understand that it provides information about who we are — a set of blueprints, they say — genetic instructions that define us individually.
The use of DNA in crime investigation caught everyone’s attention when Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld started exonerating scores of convicted prisoners by proving them innocent through DNA testing. They started the first “Innocence Project” back in 1992, and since then their work has freed hundreds of innocent people.
Like other states, Alaska now has an Innocence Project of its own, about three years old. I wrote about it in a column last year.
Bill Oberly, an attorney who serves as the full-time director and only employee of the Alaska Innocence Project, told me that the project has received about 160 requests for help from individual prisoners. Oberly’s job is to review those requests to determine if they have any merit, or if they’re premature because the case is still meandering through the legal system. Then, his hard work of searching for evidence and reviewing files begins, and Oberly has about seven or eight serious investigations going right now.
Unlike the national Innocence Project, Alaska’s project does not take just DNA-related cases.
In May of this year, the Innocence Project — and the cause of justice in Alaska — received a boost when the State Legislature passed a law granting post-conviction DNA access to prisoners seeking to overturn convictions. Alaska lagged — we were the 48th state to finally permit this.
The bill also instructs the state to pay for this testing, if merited – something the Innocence Project raised funds for in the past – and the state will provide a public defender if the case goes back to trial and the convicted party cannot pay for their own attorney.
Our Alaskan Innocence Project hasn’t received a lot of publicity yet. Partly, that’s because the legal system moves slowly and arduously, and the fodder for big, bold headlines hasn’t materialized. There’s a controversial case in Fairbanks involving several individuals who were convicted of murder, assault and sexual assault and the Innocence Project is working on that one. If the lid blows off that conviction, it might be big news, but it takes time.
The reason I mention the Alaska Innocence Project (alaskainnocence.org) is that it isn’t getting a lot of attention, and yet a handful of dedicated people are pouring their money into sustaining it as a viable force for justice in our state. A federal grant is also helping at least temporarily. Most of us aren’t attorneys and can’t help practically, but we could help materially in a cause that should be near to our hearts.
Prison ministry, justice for those wrongly accused, elimination of the death penalty — those are very Christian issues for the simple and very compelling reason that Jesus Christ himself was a wrongly convicted prisoner. I know I’ve said it before, but I guess I’ll keep saying it. If we, as Catholics, don’t step up to the plate for causes that place us at the service of the underdog, then where are our Catholic values?
[This article courtesy of Catholic Anchor.]
