Tag: dna testing
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Dismissal sought in Michael Clark’s second trial
The murder conviction of Michael Clark should be dismissed due to a 32-year delay that led to crucial evidence being lost or destroyed, a bungled police investigation and “outrageous conduct” at the state crime lab, according to defense motion filed late Friday afternoon. Clark, now 50, was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2012 in…
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Mesa County judge wrongly ordered murder defendant to pay $3,600 for DNA testing, says appeals court
A Mesa County judge improperly ordered a defendant to pay nearly $3,600 for DNA testing in his homicide prosecution without a legal basis for doing so, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last month. Richard Alan VanderVelde pleaded guilty in 2023 to second-degree murder and related offenses after killing his mother, Sylvia Frens, in 2018. Although VanderVelde was…