Ex Parte James Lee Ware. (in Re James Lee Ware v. State of Alabama)

Summary

The court held that the testimony of a laboratory geneticist who supervised and reviewed the DNA testing, signed the DNA-profile report, and could be cross-examined about the testing satisfied the Confrontation Clause, affirming Ware’s rape conviction. It also held that the evidence was insufficient to prove that Ware was armed with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument for purposes of the first-degree robbery and burglary convictions, requiring those convictions to be vacated and replaced with convictions for lesser-included offenses. The separate opinions disagreed over whether the DNA supervisor’s testimony was constitutionally sufficient and whether the evidence supported the weapon element of the robbery and burglary offenses.