Supremes hit homer in Escobar case

Especially if you live in Texas, you know the Austin PD DNA lab has had SERIOUS problems in the past. This case concern an Areli Escobar, who went to death row based on the DNA’s lab reports.

After Escobar was convicted in 2011, the police department’s DNA laboratory was closed following a state investigation that showed evidence of widespread errors and bias.

Escobar was convicted based on 1) His then-girlfriend thought she heard him having sex when she called him.  2) He had a few blood spots on his clothes that day, which he said had happened in a bar fight.

At trial, with no eye-witnesses to the crime, prosecutors were heavily reliant on DNA evidence analyzed by the Austin Police Department’s own laboratory as well as a private laboratory.

The jury was told that samples taken from Escobar’s clothing showed that Maldonado’s DNA “could not be excluded as a contributor.” Jurors were also told that Escobar’s DNA similarly could not be excluded as a contributor to DNA evidence found at the scene of the crime.

A state judge in 2020 ruled that Escobar deserved a new trial because “newly available scientific evidence demonstrates that the DNA evidence relied upon for this conviction was scientifically unreliable,” in part because there was evidence of “suspect-driven bias.”

Meaning that whatever the PD wanted for DNA results, they got.

Prosecutors accepted that finding and notified the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which was reviewing the case. But the appeals court in a January ruling nevertheless upheld Escobar’s conviction, saying in part that his lawyers had not shown that the DNA evidence is his specific case was flawed.

Here’s where it gets messed up… even the prosecutors said the evidence was not certain, but the court upheld the death sentence. So they are basing his conviction and execution on what, his girlfriend thinking he was having sex with someone else?

At the Supreme Court, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, representing the state, urged the justices to rule in Escobar’s favor. Prosecutors “offered flawed and misleading forensic evidence” that was “material to the outcome of his case in violation of clearly established federal due process law,” he wrote in court papers.

NBC News

Me, I’m all over the death penalty: it is society’s only 100% prevention for recidivism and should be applied to major or career criminals far more often. Major Hassan? Dead meat. Fentanyl dealers? String ’em up. But sending someone to ride the Needle Express based on weak sauce like “cannot be ruled out” with no other real evidence? That just weakens the whole basis for the death penalty.

Got a problem with it? Retest the evidence on modern equipment. At least get it right.

Category: Crime, Death penalty