A Virginia Beach judge ruled yesterday to allow forensic testing on evidence collected in conjunction with a 1990 rape. The defendant, Darnell Phillips, was originally convicted in 1991 with the help of microscopic hair comparison analysis. Recently, it was found that the hair evidence excluded Phillips; that evidence has since been destroyed. A judge previously ruled that additional evidence should be tested, but the prosecutor made representations that the evidence had been destroyed by the police department. That same evidence was discovered last year in the vault of the clerk’s office. Phillips is represented by the Innocence Project at UVA Law.

Second Judicial Circuit Judge A. Bonwill Shockley said, “If science changes and something can be done to find out the truth, I think that should be done.”

Read more, here.