State v. Phelps

NATURE OF CASE

David C. Phelps was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1987 kidnapping of Jill Cutshall. In accordance with the DNA Testing Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 29-4116 through 29-4125 (Cum. Supp. 2006), Phelps seeks DNA testing of certain items of Cutshall’s clothing found by a hunter in a wooded area 3 months after her disappearance. Phelps claims the clothing may contain biological evidence with DNA from a male individual other than himself and would therefore be exculpatory and material to his case. He appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for DNA testing…