State v. Parmar
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A jury convicted LeRoy Parmar of first degree murder for the 1987 killing of Frederick Cox, and the trial court sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment. In 2005, Parmar moved to have the DNA testing performed on evidence used at trial. The laboratory's analysis of the DNA samples from Cox's bedsheet excluded Parmar as a contributor to the DNA found in those samples. Parmar subsequently filed a motion requesting the court to vacate his conviction or grant him a new trial. The district court overruled Parmar's motion, concluding (1) Parmar was not entitled to have his conviction vacated because the DNA testing did not conclusively establish his innocence; and (2) Parmar was not entitled to a new trial because the evidence would not have produced a substantially different result. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the DNA evidence did not exonerate Parmar of guilt, but the evidence excluded Parmar's DNA from a crucial piece of evidence and contradicted the eyewitness testimony crucial to the State's conviction; and (2) thus, the DNA evidence probably would have produced a substantially different result if it had been available at trial. Remanded with direction to grant Parmar a new trial.
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