DNA project ending for Colorado inmates

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) Colorado's Justice Review Project, which reviewed hundreds of old cases statewide over recent years to ensure justice was done, is coming to an end after just one recommendation for new DNA testing.

The program run by the Colorado Attorney General's Office contributed to Robert Dewey's exoneration and freedom following his conviction in Mesa County.

The program is being suspended after $2.6 million in funding from the National Institute of Justice ran out.

Colorado Attorney General spokeswoman Carolyn Tyler said there are no more recommendations for DNA testing.

To qualify, inmates had to be convicted at trial or by guilty plea in a violent felony, including murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, or aggravated robbery. The identity of the perpetrator had to be an issue in the case and physical evidence lending itself to DNA testing had to be available.

"Most of the applications did not qualify for DNA testing as they were not identity cases in which DNA testing would reveal the identity of the true culprit," Tyler said.

First Assistant Attorney General Julie Selsberg said last year that more than 2,000 Colorado inmates had expressed interest. At that time, 7,914 people were serving sentences in the Colorado Department of Corrections for violent crimes that were eligible for the review. A final report on the project is due out later this year, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported Thursday (http://tinyurl.com/kk3mbmw ).

It was Selsberg and her team who recommended DNA tests after a review of Dewey's 1996 trial conviction in the murder of Jacie Taylor of Palisade. The results backed Dewey and indicated someone else committed the crime. Dewey was exonerated in 2012.

Dewey was awarded $1.2 million as the first Colorado resident compensated for wrongful imprisonment 17 years and 12 days in Dewey's case under a law inspired by Dewey and signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

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DNA project ending for Colorado inmates