Post-Conviction

Post-Conviction DNA Testing in Massachusetts

By Monica Delateur

A case heard by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) on April 3, 2017, has the potential for the SJC to determine the extent of Massachusetts‘s post-conviction DNA statute Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278ASection 278A was passed in 2012, and as discussed in Commonwealth v. Moffat, allows a defendant to bring a post-conviction motion for DNA testing if the analysis has the potential to result in evidence material to the identification of the perpetrator of the crime in the underlying case . . .