A man convicted of murder based on DNA evidence says he deserved to have his own court-appointed DNA expert as part of the defense team. The Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether he’s right.
Tanya Harris had been dead 20 years -- she was strangled and her body left in a vacant building -- when Johnny Ray Kennedy was convicted of her murder based on DNA evidence.
Kennedy – already in prison for two other murders -- asked for a court-appointed DNA expert. He did not get one. Kennedy says that means the jury was not able to hear a meaningful challenge to the state’s DNA expert.
“The Jury only heard and saw just one side of the case. A D.N.A. expert would have shown the other side of this case, “ wrote Kennedy, acting as his own legal counsel, in his application to the Michigan Supreme Court.
The state Supreme Court order says it wants to hear why that may or may not have violated Kennedy’s due process rights under the United States and Michigan constitutions.