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The Right to DNA Testing

NPR's Barbara Bradley reports on a federal judge's ruling that felons have a constitutional right to DNA evidence testing. The Virginia case involves James Harvey, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for a 1990 rape he says he did not commit. He asked the state to do DNA testing on items of evidence, but Virginia refused. The judge ruled that the state must do the tests, as part of Harvey's right to due process. The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in the federal courts.

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