This relatively new technology has resulted in the post-conviction exoneration of 85 people since 1992. Defense Attorney Barry Scheck was involved with Waters' release and is co-director of the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School in New York, which assists inmates who are challenging their convictions based on DNA testing of evidence. Betty Anne contacted us in 1996 or 1997 because we have a project that uses DNA evidence to prove that people are wrongfully convicted. It was an especially compelling case because of her passion and belief in his innocence. We worked with her to get Kenneth out of jail, but Betty Anne did it.
Laws require samples to be taken from convicted offenders and put into a databank.
But one of the problems is that not enough unsolved crime DNA profiles are being put into a databank. Law enforcement just isn't doing it. Police Commissioner Howard Safir to do DNA testing on 25,000 rape kits from unsolved crimes. They were going to throw them away. There are hundreds of thousands of rape kits which contain evidence not being tested.