Illinois Prosecutor who Fought DNA Exonerations to Resign

The State’s Attorney’s Office of Lake County, Illinois, has announced that prosecutor Michael Mermel will resign in early 2012 amid controversy about statements that he made to the The New York Times. Mermel has established a reputation for challenging credible DNA evidence of actual innocence in a number of Lake County cases. The recent New York Times Magazine article, “The Prosecution’s Case Against DNA,” quotes Mermel as saying “We don’t fold our tents and run. We don’t quaver because somebody holds up three letters: DNA.”

Read the full New York Times Magazine article.

Read more about Mermel’s resignation.