N.H. AG seeks to block DNA test on man serving life
by Kay Lazar
Thursday, August 16, 2001
The New Hampshire Attorney General's office is asking a court to block further DNA testing for a Massachusetts man serving life for a 1971 murder he
says he did not commit.
The Innocence Project, a group that has used DNA testing to free 50 wrongly convicted inmates nationwide, is backing the DNA request by Robert Breest,
63, a former Lowell resident convicted of murdering New Hampshire teenager Susan Randall.
Two DNA tests performed earlier this year were inconclusive. But the latest test indicated Randall may have been attacked by two men. Prosecutors have
always contended Breest was the lone assailant.
``My argument is that additional testing isn't going to (clear) Robert Breest because there are two male contributors,'' said New Hampshire Assistant
Attorney General William Delker. ``The possibility is that additional testing may show who the other male contributor is, but may not show anything about
Robert Breest.''
Breest's lawyer is asking for one last DNA test at Forensic Science Associates, a California lab used by many prosecutors and even the FBI when their
labs failed to get conclusive DNA readings. New Hampshire's AG objects, calling the lab questionable. ``We are one test away from finding the truth,'' said
Breest's attorney, Donald Brisson. ``What happens if (Breest) is innocent? Are we going to keep an innocent man in prison because we have two
inconclusive DNA tests?''
DNA did clear another Massachusetts inmate yesterday.
After 14 years in prison, Angel D. Hernandez, 35, walked out of jail and was reunited with family in Springfield when test results showed he was wrongly
imprisoned for a 1987 assault and rape.
Hernandez, who always maintained his innocence, had fought for 10 years to get DNA testing. The New England Innocence Project recently joined his
case.
Hernandez is the sixth person in Massachusetts exonerated by DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project.