THE DOUGLAS PRADE CASE; CRITICAL COMMENT; AKRON BEACON JOURNAL SUPPORTS BID TO RETEST DNA SAMPLES; A WELCOME EDITORIAL;

"BE THAT AS IT MAY, SOPHISTICATED TESTS HAVE YIELDED EVIDENCE THAT HAVE HELPED EXONERATE PEOPLE WRONGLY CONVICTED OF SERIOUS CRIMES IN OHIO. WITH THE GROWING NUMBER OF SUCH CASES, IT IS BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT TO DISMISS THE POTENTIAL OF DNA TESTS TO PRESENT CREDIBLE NEW EVIDENCE. AT THE HIGH COURT HEARING ON WEDNESDAY, JUSTICE PAUL PFEIFER POSED THE WHAT IFS: WHAT IF NEW TECHNOLOGY CAN DETECT SALIVA RESIDUE THAT MIGHT ALTER THE FACTS OF THE CASE? WHAT HARM DOES IT DO TO FIND THAT OUT? HE ASKED. AS CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS MOYER OBSERVED IN TURN, IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THE RELEVANCE OF SUCH QUESTIONS BECAUSE, AS HE SAID, "THE COURT IS LIKELY TO RECEIVE MANY OTHER WRONGFUL CONVICTION APPEALS BASED ON SIMILAR CLAIMS.""

EDITORIAL: THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL;

(WIKIPEDIA TELLS US THAT THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL IS A FOUR-TIME PULITZER PRIZE WINNING MORNING NEWSPAPER IN AKRON, OHIO, AND PUBLISHED BY BLACK PRESS LTD.. IT IS THE SOLE DAILY NEWSPAPER IN AKRON AND IS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT NORTHEAST OHIO. THE PAPER PLACES A STRONG EMPHASIS ON LOCAL NEWS AND BUSINESS.)

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BACKGROUND: Douglas Prade, a former Akron police captain, was convicted of killing his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, in 1997. He is seeking tests of a bite mark on her lab coat and scrapings from her fingernails which he insists will exonerate him. Summit County prosecutors said DNA tests conducted before Prade's trial on items including the lab coat did not match Prade. However, they said other evidence of his guilt is overwhelming, including testimony from witnesses and experts who examined bite marks on the victim and said they matched Prade.

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"The cynical quip is that there are very few guilty persons in prison, given the number of inmates who claim innocence," the December 18, 2009 Akron Beacon Journal editorial begins, under the heading "Plea from Prade."

"Eleven years after he was convicted of aggravated murder, Douglas Prade is pleading with the Ohio Supreme Court for new DNA testing that may (or may not) yield evidence pointing to his innocence," the editorial continues.

"Prade, a former police captain in Akron, was convicted in September 1998 for the murder of Dr. Margot Prade, his former wife, a year earlier. Now serving a life term without possibility of parole for 26 years, he has argued that new DNA tests might indicate a different killer. He has cited the availability today of more sensitive tests capable of detecting DNA markers that earlier tests could not, for instance, identifying DNA in the saliva left on the victim's blood-stained clothing.

The appeals court was not persuaded. Prosecutors argued, and the judges agreed, the conviction turned on strong evidence unrelated to the absence of conclusive DNA tests. They pointed, for instance, to a match of Prade's teeth with bite marks on the victim's arm and eyewitnesses who placed him near the crime scene at the time of the murder.

Be that as it may, sophisticated tests have yielded evidence that have helped exonerate people wrongly convicted of serious crimes in Ohio. With the growing number of such cases, it is becoming more difficult to dismiss the potential of DNA tests to present credible new evidence.

At the high court hearing on Wednesday, Justice Paul Pfeifer posed the what ifs: What if new technology can detect saliva residue that might alter the facts of the case? What harm does it do to find that out? he asked. As Chief Justice Thomas Moyer observed in turn, it is important to consider the relevance of such questions because, as he said, "the court is likely to receive many other wrongful conviction appeals based on similar claims."

DNA testing is proving to be invaluable as an investigative tool in the criminal-justice arsenal. In this case, it may well be that new testing would yield evidence that supports Prade's guilt or innocence. What is the harm in finding out, either way?"

This welcome editorial can be found at:

http://dailyme.com/story/2009121800003154/editorial-plea-prade.html

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;