PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The court also noted that the FDLE itself had suggested Duckett received incomplete testing results. The high court, however, also denied Duckett’s request for additional public records, with information about the testing process and protocols from the private lab that conducted the DNA tests."
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STORY: "DNA must be analyzed in James Duckett murder case, Florida Supreme Court rules," by Digital Journalist Christie Zizo, published by ClickOrlando, on May 1, 2026. (Christie Zizo joined the ClickOrlando team in November 2021. She cultivated her political reporting skills at Spectrum News 13, and before that at UCF.)
SUB-HEADING: "Duckett is on death row for murder in 1987."
GIST: "In March, the Florida Supreme Court issued a rare stay of execution for Duckett, pending the results of DNA testing on evidence from McAbee’s underwear.
Those test results came back inconclusive.
Lake County Circuit Judge Brian Welke subsequently ruled that Duckett had exhausted his options and could not have the tests further analyzed, a ruling Duckett’s attorneys appealed.
On Thursday, the high court ruled the underlying DNA testing data could be sent out for an analysis and an opinion under the direction of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, agreeing with Duckett’s attorneys that without the analysis from the data, he had not been provided the complete testing results, which he was entitled to.
“As the State readily concedes, an expert testifying at trial must provide statistical calculations of the testing data when reporting DNA results,” Florida Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz wrote. “An expert cannot simply say there is a ‘match’ between the defendant’s DNA and the profile obtained from testing. Against this backdrop, the statute’s reference to ‘the results of DNA testing... be[ing] admissible at trial’ suggests that those ‘results’ include the testing data necessary for a DNA expert to offer an opinion at trial.”
The court also noted that the FDLE itself had suggested Duckett received incomplete testing results.
The high court, however, also denied Duckett’s request for additional public records, with information about the testing process and protocols from the private lab that conducted the DNA tests.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
