WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said yesterday it would decide when people should get a fresh chance to prove their innocence, agreeing to hear a death row inmate's appeal based on DNA evidence that wasn't available when he was convicted of killing a young mother.

The outcome could determine when prisoners can use this modern scientific technique to get a new trial, an issue especially important for people convicted years before the advent of sophisticated genetic technology. More than 150 people have been exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence.

Justices will clarify the standards for winning new trials in the 20-year-old case of Paul House, a convicted sex offender who was accused of raping and beating to death a neighbour, Carolyn Muncey.

He was convicted of Muncey's murder, but later DNA tests, which were not widely available at the time, revealed that semen on Muncey's underwear and nightgown came from her husband.

House lost an appeal at the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, on an 8-7 vote, and asked the high court to review his case.

"This will be the first time the Supreme Court considers the impact of DNA evidence on the constitutional right to a fair trial," said Nina Morrison, an attorney with the Innocence Project in New York, a legal clinic that handles DNA cases.
"The justice system has been revolutionised by scientific evidence since the time Paul House was tried."

Morrison said that her project is handling about 100 cases involving prisoners who want a chance to prove their innocence with DNA. Most were convicted in the 1980s and early 1990s.

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