The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a case that raises serious questions about the principles upon which American criminal jurisprudence has always rested. Maryland v. King brings us face to face with modern forensic technology and how it can be applied in the criminal justice system without undermining that system.
Police arrested Mr. King for brandishing a shotgun. Under Maryland law, the police were authorized to collect King’s DNA while he was under arrest, but prior to conviction. When Mr. King’s DNA was compared to a database of DNA from unsolved crimes, it was a match for a terrible rape committed in 2003. Mr. King was then charged with the rape, convicted, and sentenced to life without parole. The Maryland Court of Appeals overturned the conviction. A very active U.S. Supreme Court recently heard argument.
