Alarm has been raised about the prospect of possible widespread miscarriages of justice across the US and the Bahamas after the exoneration of a man who had been convicted of murder on the basis of inaccurate DNA evidence.
The highest court in Bermuda ruled last week that Julian Washington, who was convicted in 2014 for the murder of one man and the attempted murder of another, should be immediately released.
At his appeal the lawyers representing the Bermudan government conceded that the forensic evidence that had implicated him was flawed and could not be relied upon.
Washington was originally sentenced to a minimum of 30 years imprisonment, but since being jailed ten years ago has always maintained his innocence.
A forensics expert at the original trial, from the now defunct Trinity DNA Solutions, said there was a one in 46 million chance that Washington’s DNA was not present on a bullet casing found at the scene. At the appeal a different forensics expert said this evidence was in fact ‘inconclusive’ and should not have been put before the jury.
Based in Florida, Trinity DNA Solutions were frequently engaged as forensics experts by the government of Bermuda, who have now accepted that the company were not operating with the correct protocols in place. The same forensics lab has also worked with prosecutors in the US and the Bahamas, raising the prospect of widespread miscarriages of justice as a result of their failings.
Julian Washington has been released from prison immediately on unconditional bail and awaits the final order that will quash his conviction.
The Death Penalty Project, a UK based legal charity, has been supporting Washington through his appeal. Parvais Jabbar, Co-Executive Director of the DPP, said: ‘The prosecution’s decision to concede the appeal and not seek a retrial is a complete vindication of the years Julian has maintained his innocence.
However, whilst Julian is now free, this case raises wider concerns that expert evidence that is fundamentally flawed, has been wrongfully used to secure convictions in potentially many cases.’
He said the Bermudan government should now conduct an urgent inquiry into whether other miscarriages of justice may have occurred because of the ‘systemic failings’ identified by this case.
