Amicus Brief: Jerad Gourdin

CIFS, New York University School of Law Forensic Defense Clinic, and the Utah Indigent Appellant Defense Division filed this amicus brief in the Utah Supreme Court in Jerad Gourdin’s case to argue that Gourdin’s trial attorney was constitutionally ineffective for failing to request the DNA case file. Nine pieces of DNA evidence were tested in this case. All but one excluded Gourdin. Only one item possibly implicated Gourdin, but even that was improperly analyzed by the lab. Indeed, the DNA evidence was far from inculpatory—at best, it was inconclusive.