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Post-Conviction DNA Testing in Pennsylvania: Commonwealth v. Hardy and the New Landscape Under Section 9543.1 (Criminal Law Symposium 2026 Capital Case session)

  • City:
  • Start Date:2026-06-05 07:30:00
  • End Date:
  • Length:
  • Level:Intermediate
  • Topics:Criminal

$79.00 ProPass

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This program is eligible for 1 hour of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 1.2 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.

Overview

In 2025, the PA Supreme Court decided Commonwealth v. Hardy, 337 A.3d 385 (Pa. 2025), and for the first time comprehensively interpreted PA's post-conviction DNA testing statute (passed in 2002 and amended in 2018). In particular, the court updated its prior precedent regarding the timing for filing motions requesting testing and the burden of proof. This session will walk participants through the standards for litigation post-conviction DNA testing issues as set forth in Hardy. It will also provide an overview of the evolution of DNA technology and of cutting-edge techniques in testing that can help both pre-trial and post-conviction practitioners.

Recorded in June 2026.

Faculty

Amelia Maxfield, Esq.

Amelia joined the Exoneration Project in 2024 from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, where she spent six years representing wrongly convicted individuals. Amelia was also a public defender in the Montgomery County office of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, and Post-Conviction Counsel at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2015.

Elizabeth A. DeLosa, Esq.

Liz DeLosa is the Deputy Legal Director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that investigates and litigates on behalf of men and women in Pennsylvania who were convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. In this role, she assists in shaping litigation strategy and case development, manages the Pittsburgh office, and supervises attorneys and law students. Liz litigates complex appellate and post-conviction cases throughout the Commonwealth, and her work has contributed to exonerations, case reversals, and other meaningful relief for wrongfully convicted individuals. She is also engaged in legislative and policy advocacy aimed at advancing statewide criminal justice reforms. Liz is an adjunct professor at Duquesne University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she teaches courses on wrongful convictions, criminal procedure, and appellate practice, and she has also taught internationally at the University of Cologne in Germany. Her prior experience includes service as an Assistant Federal Defender in the U.S. Virgin Islands and as Assistant Chief Trial Counsel and Juvenile Program Director with the Allegheny County Office of Conflict Counsel. She is a graduate of Duquesne University School of Law and the University of Pittsburgh and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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