Sun coverage: DNA used in criminal cases

DNA search delayed

Bloodied clothing that might exonerate a man convicted of killing his ex-boss more than 30 years ago could be sitting inside a city warehouse uncataloged - or it might be buried in a pile of items damaged during Tropical Storm Isabel.

Detailed evidence search is called for

Maryland's highest court yesterday demanded that police and prosecutors conduct thorough searches before declaring trial evidence to be permanently missing - checking storage rooms, offices and even judges' chambers if necessary.

DNA said to tie man to 2005 rape

A Florida trucker who was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison for abducting and sexually assaulting a Connecticut woman is the suspect in a 2005 rape near Arundel Mills mall, Anne Arundel County police said yesterday.

O'Malley maps out plan for DNA

As Baltimore County police announced the second arrest in less than a week of a man linked to a long-unsolved rape through DNA testing, Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday he eventually wants police departments to collect genetic samples as commonly as they do fingerprints.

Hearing a test of forensic results

Defense attorneys for James A. Kulbicki offered a string of alibi witnesses, and he flat-out said he didn't do it. He was, after all, a Baltimore police sergeant, and, he insisted, not a killer.

Sun follow-up

DNA said to clear pair after 19 years

Two Baltimore men imprisoned for two decades for the rape and murder of a young woman in her rowhouse have proved their innocence through new DNA testing, their attorneys say.

Circuit judge orders DNA test

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge has ordered DNA testing in a murder-rape conviction from 1988, reversing an earlier decision that blocked an inmate's effort to prove his innocence.

Move for DNA tests opposed

Two Baltimore men in prison for murder have raised questions about their convictions, which public defenders say could be answered through genetic evidence that prosecutors are refusing to allow to be tested.

DNA could free inmate

A 71-year-old man who has spent two decades in prison will get a new trial, a judge has ruled, because a lab determined that genetic evidence from the victim is not his - making this the first Baltimore murder conviction to be turned around by new DNA testing.

Firsthand experience with a 'broken' system

After nearly 20 years, Kirk Bloodsworth said, he finds it hard to believe that the last chapter of his nightmare - the official part of it, at least - is finally over.

New peace, new purpose

The politicians crammed the small stage in the U.S. Capitol studio, thanking each other for bipartisan cooperation and taking turns talking about the American people, democracy and an Eastern Shore waterman named Kirk Bloodsworth.

Bloodsworth's case sharpens DNA debate

For Kirk Bloodsworth and his family, it was pure relief Friday when prosecutors announced a new suspect in the 1984 rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton.

DNA that freed man leads to new suspect

The same DNA evidence that freed Kirk Bloodsworth from prison 10 years ago has now implicated another man in the 1984 rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton of Rosedale, quashing any lingering questions about Bloodsworth's involvement in the crime.

DNA's secrets set a man free

The three slides looked like any others: translucent, three inches long, an inch wide. Tiny blue labels showed they came from 1982, from case No. 3324 - numbers that, for decades, seemed as unexceptional as the file name typed below them.

Cases of misidentification prompt calls for change

Three people, including the teacher raped in her Towson apartment, picked Bernard Webster from a police lineup in 1982, essentially ensuring the Baltimore man's conviction.

The Second Life of Kirk Bloodsworth

Kirk Bloodsworth of Cambridge is a wanted man again. The press wants him. Geraldo wants him. Congress wants him. They all want him to talk, just tell his story one more time for the record. He is an expert on his life story, and the public is prepared to believe him now.