More than three months after the state of Ohio offered to pay for DNA testing for eligible death row inmates, none of the 201 prisoners facing the death penalty has applied for the tests.
Prosecutors say the dearth of applicants reflects the strength of their guilty convictions.
This law makes the attorney general or county prosecutor the key boxer in the ring and the referee in the ring at the same time,'' Meyers said. Applications are limited to inmates for whom DNA tests were not available or not admissible during their trials. Original samples of material to be tested must have been kept secure over the years and not contaminated. DNA tests first appeared in courts in 1986. DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic coding in cells specific to an individual.