Justices Allow Inmates To Sue for DNA Testing.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for inmates to sue for access to DNA evidence that could prove their innocence. The legal issue in the case was tightly focused and quite preliminary: Was Hank Skinner, a death row inmate in Texas, entitled to sue a prosecutor there under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow testing of DNA evidence? By a 6-to-3 vote, the court said yes, rejecting a line of lower-court decisions that had said the only proper procedural route for such challenges was a petition for habeas corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]