New England Innocence Project Fights For Post-Conviction DNA Access

26:30

November 23, 2011

Massachusetts is just one of two states that does not grant prisoners automatic access to DNA testing. (Courtesy: dnak/Flickr)

Imagine going to prison for almost 20 years for a crime you didn't commit. That's what happened to Dennis Maher of Tewkesbury, who was found guilty of rape in the early 1980s. With the help of the New England Innocence Project, he was eventually able to use DNA to prove his innocence, and he was set free in 2003.

It took nine years from when Maher started trying to use DNA to clear himself, to the time he left jail. Maher now says he believes strongly that the processes could have been expedited greatly if Massachusetts had a law that exists in 48 other states that grants prisoners access to test DNA evidence. Now there's a bill on Beacon Hill to put that law in place.

Guests:

Dennis Maher
Michael Blanding, freelance journalist and senior fellow, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.
Gretchen Bennett, executive director, New England Innocence Project
Michael O'Keefe, Cape and Islands district attorney

More:

Michael Blanding and Lindsay Markel, "Failing the DNA Test," Boston Globe Magazine
The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University

This program aired on November 23, 2011.