Kentucky Governor Signs Improved Post-Conviction DNA Access Law

From left to right, Mike Helton, Prentice Harvey, Mike Shea, Linda Smith, Jimmer Dudley, Tim Arnold, Damon Preston, Ed Monahan, Representative Johnny Bell. Not pictured: Senator John Schickel, who was also instrumental in the passage of the initiative.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed a bill Monday that will vastly expand the right of a convicted person to use DNA testing to prove their innocence. Post-conviction DNA testing in Kentucky had previously been limited to those convicted of a capital crime.

HB 41, which was sponsored by Representative Johnny Bell (D-Glasgow), passed unanimously in the Kentucky House and the Senate earlier this month. Prior to the bill’s passage, wrongly convicted Kentuckians in non-capital cases were forced to rely on judges and prosecutors to grant access to DNA testing, meaning testing was often granted in an inconsistent manner.

Read an

Innocence Project press release about the law

.

Find out about

your state’s DNA access law

.