Holcomb v. Sadler

Petitioner Ronald W. Holcomb seeks a writ of prohibition from this Court to prohibit the Mercer County Circuit Court from enforcing an order approving DNA testing of his deceased child’s fingernail scrapings at the West Virginia State Police Crime Laboratory. Arguing that the DNA testing should be performed by an independent laboratory rather than the state’s crime lab, Mi-. Holcomb, who is charged with first degree murder and death of a child by a parent, seeks to prevent the testing based on the State’s representation that the testing at issue will result in the destruction of the DNA…