State v. Westrom (2024) Opinion – Supreme Court of Minnesota

FindLaw | May 8, 2024

In their ruling, the court held that the defendant in this homicide prosecution has no reasonable expectation of privacy in a discarded napkin which was retrieved by police and tested for DNA leading to a DNA profile that was associated with a DNA profile recovered from crime scene. Other issues addressed in this ruling include:
  1. exclusion of alternative perpetrator evidence,
  2. exclusion of the defendant’s forensic podiatry evidence,
  3. the state’s closing argument was not improper, and
  4. circumstantial evidence was sufficient for conviction.