Reed v. Goertz deals with the case of Rodney Reed, who was convicted of murder after police declined to test key pieces of evidence for DNA and investigate other suspects (including the victim's police officer fiancé). There were numerous investigation failures and testi-lying about those failures by the law enforcement officers involved in the case. You can read more about Mr. Reed's fight for exoneration here.
The issue in the case is whether a Section 1983 claim seeking DNA testing of crime-scene evidence begins to run at the end of state-court litigation or at the moment the state trial court denies DNA testing.
This brief, written in partnership with the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), focuses on the importance of DNA testing in light of police misconduct and investigation failures as well as the need for accessible judicial processes to correct policing failures and ensure the integrity of the criminal legal system.