Category: DNA

Criminal Law, DNA, Evidence, Murder, Police and Prosecutors, Soering, True Crime

Jens Söring’s Trial Lawyers Did Not Want the Jury Thinking About DNA

Andrew Hammel

In the last post, I asked why Jens Söring has never asked for DNA testing of the evidence against him. When pressed on this issue, Söring sometimes mentions the testimony of Elmer Gist, Jr., a laboratory analyst who testified at Söring's 1990 trial. Gist had produced a lab report stating that there was insufficient material… Continue reading Jens Söring’s Trial Lawyers Did Not Want the Jury Thinking About DNA

Comparative Law, Criminal Law, DNA, Evidence, Murder, Police and Prosecutors, Soering, True Crime

Bleg: Has Jens Söring Ever Asked for DNA Testing?

Andrew Hammel

Gentle readers, I have something I'd like your help with. It's pretty simple: I am looking for any public statement by Jens Söring, ever, in which he asks for the evidence in his case to be tested for DNA results. As most of you know, the state of Virginia, as part of a program (g)… Continue reading Bleg: Has Jens Söring Ever Asked for DNA Testing?

Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Death Penalty, Discrimination Law, DNA, Murder, Racial Discrimination, Translation, True Crime

Pervis Payne: Not as Innocent as the Germans would have you Believe

Andrew Hammel

The FAZ recently published a feature (g) on Pervis Payne, a former Tennessee death row inmate who now claims innocence. Payne, now in his 50s, was convicted in 1988 of the 1987 stabbing murders of Charisse Christopher, 28, and her daughter Lacie Jo, 2. Payne's death sentence was later vacated when it was shown he… Continue reading Pervis Payne: Not as Innocent as the Germans would have you Believe

Criminal Law, DNA, Evidence, Murder, Police and Prosecutors, Soering, True Crime

Blood, Logic, and Guilt

Andrew Hammel

There are plenty of things happening behind the scenes with the Söring situation, which has got me going through the archives and thinking about the case. Many aspects of it are like intriguing logic puzzles. Take the Type O blood at the crime scene. We'll likely never have definitive proof it was Söring's because of… Continue reading Blood, Logic, and Guilt

Criminal Law, DNA, Evidence, Murder, Police and Prosecutors, Self-Promotion, Social Media, Soering, True Crime

Soering: An Eventful Year in Review

Andrew Hammel

We're fast approaching the one-year anniversary of the decision of the Virginia Board of Parole to release Jens Söring and Elizabeth Haysom. I thought it would be a good time to catch up on the year's events, and take a look at where we stand. I. Holdsworth Begins Cleaning the Augean Stables Credit for initiating… Continue reading Soering: An Eventful Year in Review