Malcolm Bryant: Exonerated by DNA

Malcolm Bryant: Exonerated by DNA

On the evening of November 20, 1998, 17-year-old Tyeisha Powell and 16-year-old Toni Bullock were confronted by a man carrying a knife. They were dragged into a vacant lot in Baltimore, Maryland and Bullock was stabbed to death. Powell managed to escape and later gave police a description of her attacker. She only saw him briefly and other factors such as poor visibility in the rain and evening made it hard for her to give an adequate description. A week later with no leads, police receive a phone call from members of the victim’s family saying a man resembling the sketch was just released from jail. Bryant was picked up and immediately put in a photo lineup where Powell identified him as the attacker. Bryant was charged with first-degree murder, even though witnesses placed him at a nightclub at the time of the crime. Bryant was sentenced to life in prison in 1999. Over the years, Bryant filed motions only to be dismissed and until 2009, a petition was granted to test fingernail clippings. “The testing revealed a partial DNA profile of a male, which had a rare identifier, which Bryant did not have” (Innocence Project).

It wasn’t until early 2016 that Bryant filed for a new trial. Based on new findings the charges were dropped and Bryant was exonerated. Bryant spent 17 years behind prison and died a year after being released. As unfortunate as Bryant’s case is, there are more just like his. Bryant was convicted on false identification and exonerated by DNA.

Let’s look a little closer to home (Arizona):

Eyewitness Identification Reform

         Arizona has no statewide eyewitness identification reform policy.

Recording of Interrogations

         Arizona has no state law requiring recorded interrogations.

Post Conviction DNA Testing

         Any person convicted of a felony offense may file a petition for post-         conviction DNA testing with the court where the conviction occurred.Effective 2000.

Evidence Preservation

State statute requires the automatic preservation of all biological evidence related to homicide or felony sexual offenses for the length of an individual’s incarceration, or until the completion of their supervised release. Effective 2009.

Arizona's statute does NOT meet the best practices standards outlined by the NIST Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation.

Exoneree Compensation

Arizona has no exoneree compensation law.