Washington v. Gentry (Majority)
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Appellant Jonathan Gentry was convicted by jury of aggravated first degree murder of a 12-year-old girl in 1991, for which he was sentenced to death. His conviction was affirmed in 1995, and denied postconviction relief in 1999 and 2014. In 2011, Gentry moved for postconviction DNA testing, which was granted. After the DNA report on a bloodstained shoelace (that was admitted into evidence at trial) came back matching the victim's blood profile, the State moved to end further testing. In granting the State's motion, the trial court concluded that Gentry could not meet the substantive standard of RCW 10.73.170, which required a convicted person to show the likelihood that DNA evidence would demonstrate innocence on a more probable than not basis. The court concluded that the statute did not impose a presumption that further DNA testing will be favorable and
exculpatory and held that, even with such a presumption, Gentry could not show probable innocence in light of the new inculpatory DNA test on the shoelace. Gentry appealed that judgment directly to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court affirmed, finding that the trial judge acted within her discretion in determining that Gentry could not demonstrate probable innocence in light of the result of the DNA test on the shoelace, even assuming the remaining DNA evidence would have been favorable to him.
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