State v. Smith

Syllabus

The defendant, who previously had been convicted, after a jury trial, of murder and felony murder, appealed from the trial court's judgment deny- ing his postconviction petition, pursuant to statute (§ 54-102kk (b)), seeking DNA testing of fingernail scrapings that had been collected from the victim's body during the investigation of the murder. The defendant claimed that the court improperly failed to conclude that exculpatory results of that DNA testing would have created a reasonable probability that he would not have been prosecuted or convicted had it been available at his criminal trial. Held: The defendant failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that DNA testing of the fingernail scrapings would have resulted in a reasonable prob- ability that he would not have been prosecuted or convicted, as the absence of his DNA or the presence of a third party's DNA would not necessarily mean that the defendant was not present at the murder scene or did not participate in the commission of the crime, and it would not necessarily discredit the testimony of a witness who saw him participate in the com- mission of the murder. Argued October 8, 2025—officially released May 5, 2026