The office of chief medical examiner (ocme) seeks funding under the post-conviction testing of DNA evidence grant program, category 1, to help exonerate those wrongfully convicted

The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (NYC OCME) was awarded a $1,523,688 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence program (CFDA 16.820). The grant, awarded on October 1, 2024, will allow the OCME to increase its review of post-conviction cases for DNA testing from 5 to 10 cases per month. This funding will enable the OCME to locate evidence, process DNA, and retest evidence with new technology to potentially exonerate individuals wrongfully convicted of violent felony offenses in New York. The grant will support 3 full-time criminalist technicians to assist with these efforts, which aim to address persistent racial disparities seen in active post-conviction cases and bring justice to those wrongfully incarcerated.

This funding opportunity, if awarded, will allow the ocme to increase its review of post-conviction cases for DNA testing from five cases per month to ten cases per month, that currently the ocme does not have the resources and funding to process. For post-conviction cases, the development of a DNA profile and its entry into the combined DNA index system (codis), is essential in righting miscarriages of justice. According to the national registry of exonerations, there have been 369 exonerations in new york state since 1989. The registry also reports that, of the exonerations in the united states, 50% are members of marginalized communities. The data sheds a harsh light on the persistent disparity in the conviction rate of minorities. To help right this wrong, the ocme seeks grant funding to locate evidence associated with post-conviction cases. Acquiring the evidence will provide greater access to DNA testing that is, by its nature, unbiased. Ocme also seeks funding for examination of evidence, DNA processing, and funding to retest evidence with new DNA technology that was not available at the time of the violent crime. In new york city, the district attorney's offices (daos) of all five boroughs have conviction integrity units that work tirelessly to investigate potential wrongful convictions through a fresh look at the evidence. Requests to the ocme by these units for examination and processing of DNA associated with post-conviction cases have steadily increased over the years to a level that is difficult for the ocme to manage without additional funding. If given funding, the ocme will be able to work in close collaboration with integrity units within the daos to identify cases where DNA evidence was collected and still exists, and exclusionary results may exonerate those that are unfairly incarcerated. With funding awarded by this grant, the ocme would hire three full time criminalist level IBS technicians to help with evidence examination, DNA processing, and with searching for extracts and retained items and stains that could benefit from testing with new technology. Through the testing of post-conviction cases, the ocme would be able to bring justice to those wrongfully convicted and be a facilitator for change concerning inequalities in race still seen in active post-conviction cases.