Opinion ID: 2267917
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Woods v. State

Text: The trial court denied Woods' motion on the basis that it did not satisfy §§ 4504(a)(2), 4504(a)(3), or 4504(a)(5). On the first point, the trial court was hampered by the same failure of proof as the court in Redding. Woods provided nothing more to the trial court than a conclusory averment that DNA testing is now successful in many situations where, in the past, the test results were inconclusive. On appeal, Woods argues that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing is the new type of testing he seeks. In this Court, Woods attached to his brief an article explaining the mtDNA testing process and its usefulness in examining small or degraded samples. [31] As with Redding, we are constrained to remand this issue for consideration by the trial court, on an appropriate record. The Woods court, however, also rested its decision on two other bases. We conclude that the petition should not have been rejected on either of those alternative grounds. First, the record establishes that identity was an issue at trial. Rebecca identified her father as the person who was abusing her, but Woods denied the charges. Woods maintained that he was not the person who was having sexual contact with his daughter. Given the evidence that Rebecca had sexual contact with someone, the identity of that person  whether it was Woods or someone else  was an issue at trial. Second, applying the standard outlined above, we hold that a favorable DNA test would tend to significantly advance Woods' claim of actual innocence. The most significant physical evidence introduced against Woods was a bedspread from Rebecca's bed that had semen stains. The jury never heard anything about Rebecca allegedly having sex with her boyfriend, because the trial court excluded a friend's testimony to that effect. If DNA testing were to establish that the semen stain on Rebecca's bed came from someone other than Woods, the whole complexion of the trial would be different. The friend's testimony might be admitted, and even if not, Rebecca's credibility could be severely eroded. In addition, if there were evidence of Rebecca's sexual activity, Woods could argue that Rebecca fabricated the abuse charges to retaliate for his strictness in not allowing her to have boyfriends. In sum, the requested DNA testing, if found to satisfy § 4504(a)(2), should be allowed.