Clemency, Jurisdiction and Outdated Forensic Evidence: A Postmortem Analysis of Accountability in a Wrongful Execution

• In Event: Current Issues Related to the Death Penalty

Abstract

Advancements in technology and greater commitment to the empirical testing of forensic sciences can expose erroneous convictions based on flawed or outdated forensic evidence. For innocent offenders, these discoveries may occur well after all chances of appeal are exhausted. This article reviews post­conviction remedies including clemency and post­execution investigation efforts, such as forensic science commissions, in a highly publicised capital murder case where the forensic evidence, the arson investigation, is exposed as flawed and likely invalid and where the defendant is potentially innocent. I discuss the findings in light of the socio­legal theories on clemency and jurisdiction and conclude that in cases of innocence and the death penalty, clemency is insufficient to concede or correct errors based on outdated evidence and the action of delineating jurisdiction allows forensic and innocence commissions to evade systemic accountability for miscarriages of justice.

Author

• Rachel Dioso-Villa, Griffith University