Supreme Court Orders Texas To Revisit Death Penalty Case Plagued By Faulty DNA Evidence
Areli Excobar was convicted of the 2011 murder and rape of a 17-year-old woman. A district judge ruled that his conviction relied on "scientifically unreliable" DNA evidence, but the Texas Supreme Court held it up. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Texas Courts to revisit his case.
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has been ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the conviction and planned execution of a death row inmate whose case relies on “scientifically unreliable” DNA evidence, Roxanna Asgarian reports for the Texas Tribune. Areli Excobar was convicted of the 2011 murder and rape of a 17-year-old woman. A district judge ruled that his conviction relied on notoriously faulty DNA evidence, but the Texas Supreme Court held it up. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Texas Courts to revisit his case.
“The trial court, the defense and the prosecution all agree that Mr. Escobar should not have been convicted because the evidence used to convict him was entirely unreliable,” Benjamin Wolff, Escobar’s lawyer said after the decision. “No one should be convicted or sentenced to death because of junk science,” Wolff said.
