Amicus Brief: Lance Hinson
State of Alaska V. Lance Hinson
Filing Date
January 22, 2020
Charge
Second-Degree Murder
Jurisdiction
Court of Appeals for the State of Alaska
Partners
Innocence Network
Summary
CIFS and the Innocence Network filed this amicus brief in the Court of Appeals for the State of Alaska in Lance Hinson’s case to argue against the high burden of AS 12.73. The law currently requires proof of actual innocence to move forward with DNA testing. The Superior Court recently interpreted AS 12.73 to not require actual/factual innocence. Our brief asks the Appeals Court to uphold the lower court’s ruling.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
The foundation of Alaska’s criminal justice system is the pursuit of truth. Recognizing the reality of human fallibility in that pursuit, the law includes procedural mechanisms for scrutiny of criminal convictions and correction of those deemed invalid. When the Alaska legislature unanimously enacted Alaska’s post-conviction DNA testing statute, their intent was clear: to provide one such procedural safeguard through which a wrongfully convicted person could access forensic evidence in support of their claim of innocence. Consistent with that legislative intent, post-conviction DNA testing under AS 12.73 should be granted when favorable DNA results would produce compelling evidence that the person did not commit the offense.
The State seeks to deny wrongly convicted citizens meaningful access to potentially exculpatory evidence by (1) requiring proof of “actual innocence” to merely move forward with testing and (2) allowing the State to introduce additional inculpatory evidence outside of the trial record when the court analyzes an application under AS 12.73. The State’s narrow interpretation of AS 12.73 misconstrues the plain language of the statute, frustrates the purpose of the statute’s procedural safeguard to expand access to potentially exculpatory DNA evidence, and undermines the truth-seeking functions of the criminal justice system.