No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door!
MSU Forensics Lab uses AI to Help Identify Human Remains (WLNS6 – 6/12/2025)
Forensic anthropologists and computer scientists at Michigan State University have discovered a way to use artificial intelligence to identify human remains much faster and more efficiently.
A recently published study coauthored by members of the university’s Forensic Anthropology Lab analyzed more than 5,000 chest radiographs, pictures of the chest taken with X-rays or other forms of radiation. The researchers did this with a deep neural network, a machine learning model that can learn and draw conclusions similarly to the human brain.In a radiograph, regions of interest (ROIs) can be selected for further analysis, and researchers used the AI program to identify them in seconds, rather than days.
DA Says DNA Evidence Has Solved 45-Year-Old Ayer Murder (Boston.com – 6/14/2025)
After an innocent man served 20 years for the brutal 1980 slaying of an Ayer woman, DNA testing has revealed the likely true killer, investigators announced Thursday.
Evidence taken at the murder scene of 48-year-old Katharina Reitz Brow has been tested using forensic investigative DNA technology, revealing Brow’s likely true killer to be Joseph Leo Boudreau, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Ayer Police Chief Brian Gill.
Boudreau, formerly of Ogunquit, Maine, was 37 years old at the time of Brow’s murder. He died in 2004, at the age of 61.
The revelation comes more than two decades after the original murder suspect, Kenneth Waters, had his murder conviction vacated.
Ramapo Students, Cold Case Unit Identify 2011 John Doe (Forensic – 6/16/2025)
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit has assisted in a second cold case identity confirmation with investigative genetic genealogy, giving Kermit Wayne Anderson his name back.
“So many families have had to wait far too long for answers and justice,” said Attorney General Mayes. “I’m proud of our Cold Case Unit and the work they are doing to close these cases and deliver answers to the family members of missing and murdered Arizonans.”
A man was found under a bridge in Phoenix, Arizona on Oct. 13, 2011. He had apparently died as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had no identification on him when he was found. The Maricopa County Bridge John Doe carried a gray flashlight and TUMS medicine, had an upper denture, and wore dark blue pants, a green jacket and black shirt. His shoes were black, size 10, and he wore white Adidas socks.
His identity remained unknown for 13 years. In 2024, the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner (MCOME) contacted the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in Mahwah, NJ. Upon Ramapo accepting the case, MCOME sent a portion of the bloodstain to Genologue in Tucker, GA, where a DNA extraction and whole genome sequencing was performed. Genologue sent files to Parabon Nanolabs in Virginia for bioinformatics.
In September 2024, the genotype files were received by the IGG Center and subsequently uploaded to GEDmatch Pro to try and identify John Doe. This case was worked on by students in the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program, who commenced research in November 2024. That same month, they were able to identify Kermit Wayne Anderson b. 1934 as a possible candidate for John Doe and relayed this information to MCOME.
New AI Research Reveals Hidden Human Trafficking Recruitment Networks (Forensic – 6/16/2025)
Most anti-human trafficking efforts focus on breaking up sex sales; however, new research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management is turning its attention to where trafficking truly begins – recruitment. Using machine learning to analyze millions of online ads, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have uncovered patterns that link deceptive job offers to sex trafficking networks. By mapping the connections between recruitment and sales locations, the study reveals a hidden supply chain – one that can now be exposed and interrupted earlier in the trafficking process.
“By combining data science with deep web analysis, we are helping to uncover trafficking networks and provide law enforcement with tools to intervene before exploitation occurs,” says Hamsa Bastani of the University of Pennsylvania. “Our research reveals the hidden supply chains of sex trafficking, showing how recruitment often begins with false promises in vulnerable communities.”
The study, “Unmasking Human Trafficking Risk in Commercial Sex Supply Chains with Machine Learning,” finds that traffickers often lure victims from economically vulnerable areas, such as suburban communities, rather than large cities where most sex sales occur. This surprising discovery shifts the conversation about how trafficking networks operate and where interventions should be focused. Instead of targeting only the urban centers where trafficking sales are most visible, researchers argue that more attention needs to be paid to recruitment hotspots in smaller, economically struggling communities.
Works Begin in Ireland to Exhume Remains of Hundreds of Babies Found at Unwed Mothers’ Home (ABCNews – 6/16/2025)
Officials in Ireland began work Monday to excavate the site of a former church-run home for unmarried women and their babies to identify the remains of some 800 infants and young children who died there.
The long-awaited excavation at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway in western Ireland, is part of a reckoning in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country with a history of abuses in church-run institutions.
The home, which was run by an order of Catholic nuns and closed in 1961, was one of many such institutions that housed tens of thousands of orphans and unmarried pregnant women who were forced to give up their children throughout much of the 20th century.
In 2014, historian Catherine Corless tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at the home in Tuam between the 1920s and 1961 — but could only find a burial record for one child.
Investigators later found a mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children in an underground sewage structure on the grounds of the home. DNA analysis found that the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks gestation to 3 years.
A major inquiry into the mother-and-baby homes found that in total, some 9,000 children died in 18 different mother-and-baby homes, with major causes including respiratory infections and gastroenteritis, otherwise known as the stomach flu.
Ancient DNA Reveals Lost Population from Colombia (Forensic – 6/17/2025)
People coming from the north settled South America. The first hunter-gatherers entered the continent from the region of what is Colombia today and then spread out from there. An international research team from the University of Tübingen, the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia have now found genetic evidence of a previously unknown, early population.
These early settlers of the high plains around Bogotá, the Altiplano, have been dated back to 6000 years ago. They represent a population that has yet to be described. They disappeared 2000 years ago at the latest and were replaced by a second migration from Central America. The study has been published in the journal Science Advances.
Nonprofit Steps in to Fund Cold Case Investigations as Federal Grant Ends (Forensic – 6/09/2025)
For the last three years, Monterey County’s (Calif.) Cold Case Task Force has actively investigated 45 violent crime cold cases where DNA evidence could likely be used to identify previously unidentified human remains. They have made remarkable progress, solving 13 cases and identifying 10 human remains, bringing closure to many families.
This work was funded by a $535,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance under a program designed to increase the capacity of state and local prosecution offices to address and close violent crime cold cases.
Now, with more than 600 unsolved homicides in the county still, the federal grant money has been exhausted.
Luckily, community members have stepped in to ensure the work continues. A nonprofit— The Cold Case Project of Monterey County—has been created to help raise funds to continue investigations when the federal funding officially runs out in October.
The organization has established a fund through the Community Foundation for Monterey County, giving local residents, businesses and supporters the opportunity to directly contribute to solving cold cases. The funds will be used to pay labs directory for testing. Cold cases that need DNA analysis work can cost upward of $15,000.
Genealogy Identifies 2007 Drowning Victim (Forensic – 6/18/2025)
On Sept. 24, 2007, human remains were discovered washed ashore along the beach in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Authorities responded to the Volusia County beach and collected a human mandible. An initial investigation concluded that the mandible likely belonged to an adult male whose identity could not be determined. Investigators detected that the remains were subjected to trauma leading them to suspect that the man’s death may have been due to homicide. The case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP1521, and traditional investigative methods yielded no identification.
In February 2025, with funding provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) through its Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) grant, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram, a forensic laboratory specializing in human identification from degraded or limited DNA samples. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile from the evidence.
This profile was then delivered to FDLE’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team, which conducted genealogical research to identify possible relatives of the man. The team’s forensic search led to new investigative leads that ultimately resulted in the positive identification of Robert Martin, whose death is now ruled an accident.
Inspired by Innocent Man Who Spent 3 Years in Solitary Confinement, Kalief’s Law Survives State Budget Cuts (Forensic – 6/18/2025)
Ten years following the tragic death of Kalief Browder, a Bronx teenager who spent three years at Rikers Island awaiting trial, public defenders, impacted families, community organizers, and policy advocates joined forces to protect a landmark 2019 New York discovery reform secured in his name.
Known informally as Kalief’s Law, the statute ensures people accused of crimes receive critical evidence early enough to defend themselves. Its passage was a pivotal move toward fairness, transparency, and due process — especially for poor, Black, and brown New Yorkers disproportionately harmed by the criminal legal system.
Yet, during state budget negotiations this year, lawmakers faced intense pressure to repeal Kalief’s Law from prosecutors and Governor Kathy Hochul, who argued that it was too burdensome and caused case delays. Their proposed changes would have gutted the timelines and requirements that hold prosecutors accountable, and would have reversed progress in New York by potentially reopening the door to indefinite pretrial detention, last-minute evidence dumps, and cases built on secrecy rather than fairness.
At the center of the fight against these rollbacks were the Alliance to Protect Kalief’s Law, a coalition of organizations that includes the Innocence Project; Akeem Browder, Kalief’s older surviving brother and founder of the Kalief Browder Foundation; and Renay Lynch, a recently exonerated New Yorker.
To preserve Kalief’s Law, advocates worked tirelessly to ensure that legislators had a full understanding of New York’s discovery laws, especially the successes of the 2019 reforms. The Alliance to Protect Kalief’s Law maintained a steady presence in Albany throughout the entire, protracted budget season, armed with written materials to share and answering questions from lawmakers and staffers. Buoyed by this advocacy, the legislature held fast, preserving the core timelines and transparency mandates of the 2019 law — ensuring its integrity and impact remained in place. When the final state budget was signed in May, Kalief’s Law remained largely intact.
U.S. Records Underestimate Native Americans’ Deaths, Life Expectancy (Forensic – 6/18/2025)
A new study in JAMA reveals the “statistical erasure” of Indigenous Americans, finding that the gap between AI/AN life expectancy and the national average was 2.9 times greater than official vital statistics indicate.
Death rates for American Indians’ and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are far higher than reported in official vital statistics, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher.
Published in JAMA, the nationally representative study found that death certificates for at least 41 percent of AI/AN decedents failed to identify them as AI/AN, in most cases misreporting their race as “White.”
As a result of these death certificate errors, official vital statistics greatly underestimate AI/AN mortality, overestimate AI/AN life expectancy, and understate the mortality disparities between AI/AN and other Americans.
New Tulsa Race Massacre Victim Identified in Oaklawn Cemetery Mass Grave Research Efforts (6News – 6/18/2025)
On Wednesday, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, forensic experts, and archaeologists made an announcement about the ongoing mass graves investigations at Oaklawn Cemetery.
The city and the research team have been working to identify the remains found in unmarked graves and determine if they’re related to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Mayor Nichols announced the release of the 2024 study, which found six individuals with gunshot wounds on the west side of the cemetery.
He said that more work must be done at Oaklawn and that he intends to have crews return to continue searching pending budget approval.
Last July, researchers from Intermountain Forensics announced that the first victim of the massacre was positively identified. C. L. Daniel was a veteran who served during WWI and was born in Georgia. Evidence shows that he was killed in Tulsa during the massacre and buried at Oaklawn Cemetery.
Othram IDs the ‘Girl with the Turquoise Jewelry’ After Nearly 50 Years (Forensic – 6/23/2025)
In June 1979, the remains of an unknown female were located by a stonemason on an embankment between the Juniata River and the eastbound lanes of Route 22/322, near Watts Township in Perry County, Penn. The skeletal remains were determined to belong to a white female likely between the ages of 15 and 30. The woman had light brown to blonde, medium-length hair. Investigators estimated her height to be 5’6” and weight to be 125 pounds. The woman’s cause of death could not be determined; however, investigators listed the case as a suspicious death due to the circumstances around the discovery of the woman’s remains.
At the time of her discovery, the woman was wearing multiple pieces of turquoise jewelry, including a ring, a necklace and a pair of earrings. She also wore an onyx ring and another ring containing turquoise and onyx with possible Southwest Native American origins, likely originating from the New Mexico/Arizona region. The woman was buried shortly after her discovery.
Despite the available evidence and diligent work of investigators, the case went cold, and the woman became known as “Perry County Jane Doe” and “Girl with the Turquoise Jewelry.”
Forensic Dental Research Finds Smoking Leaves Lasting Mark on Teeth (Forensic – 6/23/2025)
Evidence of the permanent impact of smoking on people’s teeth has been uncovered by researchers for the first time. Researchers from Northumbria University have discovered that smokers have tell-tale signs of their smoking habits ingrained deep within their teeth, which remain even after a person has quit.
Their findings, which are now published in the journal PLOS One, could help to shine new insights on forensic and historical investigations.
Teeth consist of three main hard tissues: enamel, dentine and cementum. Cementum, which covers the tooth root, develops characteristic “rings” that grow each year as we age—much like tree rings.
The research team had initially set out to see if these rings could be used to predict the age of an individual in a forensic setting, such as identifying disaster victims or for situations when an individual’s DNA is not on a DNA database.
Historic Milestone for Forensic Medicine in the Philippines (Forensic – 6/23/2025)
Monash University marked another major milestone in its work to strengthen health and wellbeing in the Indo-Pacific when Professor Craig Jeffrey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) and Senior Vice President, joined the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Her Excellency HK Yu PSM, and the Executive Secretary of the Philippines, Lucas Bersamin, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the first National Institute for Forensic Medicine in the Philippines.
With support from the Australian Government, Monash University will play a critical role in supporting the University of the Philippines to establish the Institute over the next four years, educating a core group of forensic doctors who will be capable of investigating death and violence to international standards.
The foundational cohort will be enrolled remotely in existing Monash post-graduate courses in Forensic Medicine, tailored for local context, with visiting experts flying in to deliver in-country hands-on training in autopsy and other specialized evidence collection practices.
Wildlife Forensic Scientists Develop New Tool to Detect Elephant Ivory Disguised as Legal Mammoth Ivory (Frontiers – 6/23/2025)
Mammoth ivory, dug up in the permafrost, is sometimes used as a legal substitute for elephant ivory. But this leaves a potential loophole for poached elephant ivory to be sold as mammoth ivory. Genetic analysis and radiocarbon dating that can reliably tell even carved and polished mammoth ivory from elephant ivory are slow and expensive, making it difficult to screen ivory at scale. Now scientists have identified a way of using stable isotope analysis to tell the difference between today’s elephants and the mammoths of the past, potentially revolutionizing the fight against the illegal ivory trade.
Building Trust in Forensic Science: Footwear Analysis (NIST – 6/24/2025)
Starting in 2015, SED staff members began reviewing published literature on the recommended practice for forensic examiners to provide likelihood ratios (LRs) as a weight of evidence to summarize their findings in reports or testimony. While several stated motivations for providing likelihood ratios were admirable (e.g., requiring examiners to consider at least two propositions when assessing the evidence, stopping the examiner from characterizing the probability any given proposition is true, and increasing the transparency of the examiner’s reasoning), several prominent LR proponents overstated the theoretical support for providing an LR and failed to properly address the influence of subjective modeling choices required to obtain an LR value. Based on extensive review and study of the recommended practice, in 2017 SED staff published the paper “Likelihood Ratio as Weight of Evidence: A Closer Look” in the Journal of Research of NIST identifying potential concerns with examiners providing LR values and suggesting that examiners should either carefully address how modeling choices may affect their offered LR value or focus on providing factual presentations of the data they would use to form an LR, rather than the LR itself. As a result of their work, these staff members were subpoenaed to testify a Federal evidence admissibility hearing for the case United States v. Gissantaner, in which the LR evidence was ultimately ruled inadmissible. Though four oppositional responses to the paper have been published since 2017, none have addressed the fundamental concerns outlined in the paper. A follow-up article is in preparation after recent articles in the forensic science literature began citing the previously published responses as having refuted the concerns originally presented. Since 2015, SED members have led the technical aspects of a research project aiming to provide meaningful algorithmic support to examiners evaluating forensic footwear impression evidence. While several algorithms exist to help examiners determine the shoe make and model exhibited in crime scene impressions, other phases of evidence evaluation, such as quantifying correspondence of wear regions or randomly acquired characteristics (RACs), have not been algorithmically supported. The NIST team has been developing an end-to-end comparison workflow to support examiners in all phases of evidence evaluation (design, size, wear, and RACs). Major tasks have included assessing crime scene impression clarity, aligning test impressions from shoes of interest with the crime scene impression, evaluating pattern similarity, and finding relevant reference (i.e., ground truth known) comparisons to provide context for algorithm outputs.
Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner Issues Guardrails for Police Using Investigative Genetic Genealogy (CISION – 6/24/2025)
Today, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) released guardrails for police use of investigative genetic genealogy. This first-in-Canada public resource marks an important step towards proper governance of this new and emerging technology.
Investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) is a technique used by police to solve crimes. It involves using genetic data from crime scene samples and DNA databases to identify individuals through genetic matches, or partial matches to biological relatives.
While IGG is a powerful tool for solving serious crimes, its use by police is currently not subject to any clear legislative framework. This raises real privacy and human rights concerns, especially for individuals who may become ensnared as part of a police investigation simply because they share DNA with someone else.
“Investigative genetic genealogy has the power to crack cold cases, bring closure to victims’ families, and even absolve the wrongfully convicted. But without clear legal rules, this new investigative tool can unduly broaden the scope of state surveillance and intrusion into the private lives of many innocent people.” said Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. “Until there is a clear law governing the use of this technology, my office is proposing a policy framework to help ensure police in Ontario use this technology responsibly and in a way that maintains public trust.”
While the IPC does not necessarily endorse police use of IGG, these guardrails serve as a tool to help police comply with their legal obligations and mitigate risks to privacy and human rights. The twelve guardrails cover: lawful authority, necessity and proportionality, accountability, third party procurement, data minimization, retention, data security, controls for surreptitious DNA collection, transparency, access, public consultation, and ethical disclosure guidelines.
In developing these guardrails, the IPC consulted with a broad range of interested parties to ensure a diversity of voices and expertise, including: police services, government ministries, civil society and human rights organizations, academic researchers and lawyers, experts in forensic science, pathology, genomics and bioethics, First Nations technology leaders, as well as privacy, human rights, and victims’ rights regulators.
West Tennessee County Approves Area’s First-ever Locally Funded Crime Lab (Forensic – 6/25/2025)
On Monday, the Shelby County (Tennessee) Board of Commissioners voted to approve the first-ever locally funded crime lab in county history. This will move key evidence testing much closer to home for those in Shelby County.
Currently, the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Testing Center is the only forensic testing center in Shelby County with the next closest being the TBI lab in Jackson.
“The present system with a lab in Jackson serving all of West Tennessee lacks the capacity to meet all of our needs timely,” said District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who spearheaded this campaign. “This is not a criticism of the hard-working people in that lab. It is simply a reality of the volume of evidence that needs to be tested to bring violent criminals to justice and drive crime rates downward.”
Yavapai County Offices of the Medical Examiner & Sheriff Team with Othram to Identify a 2005 John Doe (DNASolves – 6/25/2025)
In 2005, a train engineer operating a train in Yavapai County, Arizona saw a man on the tracks moments before the train struck him and killed him. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the Medical Examiner responded and began investigating. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the man could not be identified and the case went cold. The man became known as Yavapai County John Doe (2005) and detail of his case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP95329.
In 2022, the Yavapai County Medical Examiner teamed with Othram to leverage advanced DNA testing to assist in the identification of the unknown man. Forensic evidence was submitted to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the remains and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to develop a comprehensive DNA profile. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then used the profile in a genealogical search to generate new investigative leads in the case, including the identification of potential relatives of the unidentified man.
A reference DNA sample was collected from a potential relative and compared to the John Doe’s DNA profile using Othram’s KinSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. This comparison confirmed a biological relationship and the man is now identified as Darrin Allen Morgan, born on December 24, 1973. He would have have been 31 years old when he died. Morgan appears to have been raised in Illinois. It is unclear when he moved to Arizona.
Plymouth Township Police Department Teams with Othram to Identify a 1997 Homicide Victim (DNASolves – 6/25/2025)
In May 1997, skeletal remains were located in a field off of Haggerty Road in Plymouth, Michigan. The discovery was made in the west Detroit suburb when a man interested in purchasing the property was conducting a survey. The citizen reported coming across a piece of rolled up carpet that, when opened, revealed human skeletal remains along with several articles of clothing and jewelry. Authorities responded to the scene, and it was determined that the carpet and remains had been there for multiple years.
A death investigation was initiated, and investigators determined that the remains belonged to an adult male. It was estimated that the man was about 5’8” tall. The man’s weight was unknown but based on the size of shorts found on the body, investigators believed that the man was slim. It was determined that the man likely died due to a head injury and his death was ruled a homicide. Over the years, investigators pursued leads in hopes that the man could be identified, including investigating the origin of the gold class ring found on the man’s body, testing on the clothing and ballistics testing of a .357 slug found with the remains.
In 2015, traditional DNA testing was done and uploaded to CODIS was performed as part of the investigation into the man’s identity, but there was no match to a known individual. Details of the case were entered into NamUs as UP11420. For decades, investigators worked to identify the man including appealing to the public for any information that could be helpful.
In 2022, investigators with the Plymouth Township Police Department teamed with Othram to determine if advanced DNA testing could help to identify the long-unidentified John Doe. Forensic evidence was submitted to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas where DNA was extracted from the skeletal evidence. Using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing®, an ultra-sensitive comprehensive DNA profile was developed. This DNA profile allowed Othram scientists to confirm that the unknown man’s ancestry was African and not Caucasian.
The DNA profile was then submitted for forensic matching allowing Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team to develop new leads about the man’s identity. These leads were provided to law enforcement, who spearheaded a follow-up investigation leading to a potential relative of the man, who provided a reference DNA sample. The potential relative’s DNA profile was compared to the DNA profile developed for the unknown man using KinsSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. This investigation led to the identification of the man as Benjamin Harrison Fountain who was born on May 6, 1926.
Work Begins to Create Artificial Human DNA from Scratch (BBC – 6/25/2025)
Work has begun on a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life from scratch, in what is believed to be a world first.
The research has been taboo until now because of concerns it could lead to designer babies or unforeseen changes for future generations.
But now the World’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has given an initial £10m to start the project and says it has the potential to do more good than harm by accelerating treatments for many incurable diseases.
Dr Julian Sale, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, who is part of the project, told BBC News the research was the next giant leap in biology.
“The sky is the limit. We are looking at therapies that will improve people’s lives as they age, that will lead to healthier aging with less disease as they get older.
Supreme Court Sides With Death Row Prisoner Seeking DNA Testing (New York Times – 6/26/2025)
For nearly 15 years, a Texas death row prisoner has sought DNA testing that he claims will help to show he did not fatally stab an 85-year-old woman during a 1998 robbery.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for him to continue his legal challenge seeking DNA testing of crime scene evidence.
By a vote of 6 to 3, the court reversed a federal appeals court that had found Ruben Gutierrez was barred from bringing a lawsuit seeking the testing because he had failed to show that a state prosecutor would allow access to the evidence.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the opinion for the court, joined by the two other liberal justices, along with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined in the court’s judgment and partially in the majority opinion, but filed a separate concurrence.
