DNA evidence cleared its 200th person Monday, another milestone for a technology that has not only reversed convictions but has also prompted a more critical look at flaws in the justice system -- from crime lab work to the way arson cases are investigated.
The details of the latest exoneration are typically nightmarish: Jerry Miller served 25 years for a rape conviction and had already been paroled when DNA tests showed he could not have been the man who attacked a woman in a Chicago parking garage.
What's also troubling is how common these exonerations have become since the first reversal in 1989. It took 13 years to reach the first 100 DNA exonerations, but just five to double that number. For prosecutors and judges, as well as defense attorneys, the exonerations raise a larger question: How many others, innocent of their crimes, are behind bars?
Details here from the AP via the New York Times.