Simms v. State

McDonald, j.

In this case, both sides have sought to prove a negative. The Appellant, Joseph E. Simms, was convicted of first degree murder and related offenses in 1996. In 2008, well after his conviction had become final, he embarked on an effort under the post-conviction DNA testing statute, Maryland Code, Criminal Procedure Article (“CP”), § 8-201, to prove that one item of the prosecution’s evidence—socks he had allegedly worn at the time of the murders—lacked his DNA. The State ultimately responded with documentation that the socks no longer existed, having been destroyed long ago, along…