Eleventh Circuit Denies Federal Attempt to Obtain Post-Conviction DNA Testing Post-Osborne

Holding: The Rooker-Feldman doctrine blocks federal courts from second-guessing how states apply their post-conviction DNA testing laws to the particular facts of a case.

Potential Impact: If prisoners seeking DNA testing want to be heard in federal court, they must challenge the constitutionality of the law, not its application.

By Lance J. Rogers

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit May 8 made clear that federal courts will not second-guess a state court’s refusal to grant a prisoner’s request for post-conviction DNA testing if the federal lawsuit boils down to a claim that state authorities erred in applying the state’s law on post-conviction testing to the facts of the case. (Alvarez v. Florida Attorney General, 11th Cir., No. 11-10699, 5/8/12).

Federal courts will get involved only when the post-conviction challenge involves a claim that the state statutory scheme for testing is itself unconstitutional, the court said in an opinion by Judge Stanley Marcus.