Andrew Murdoch, the Governor, has stated that he does not support calls for a Commission of Inquiry into criminal cases potentially tainted by flawed DNA evidence.

While the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative said the island needed a “truly independent review” of the matter, Mr Murdoch said he had no concerns about the investigation conducted by Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“Those calls appear to be based on the fact that the DPP led the review, that the DPP’s involvement is fundamentally objectionable,” he said.

“However, the role of the DPP in the review process was known to the Privy Council from the very outset, without concerns being raised. That is important.

“I am also not aware of any information to suggest that the way the DPP conducted the review is flawed.”

Mr Murdoch added that there are other legal mechanisms in place for those who have concerns about how the review was carried out — and whether it had reached the correct conclusion in any specific cases.

“Those mechanisms do not require the establishment of another systemic review,” he said.

“First, appeals can be made, in the usual manner, by those concerned based on the DNA issues identified.

“Second, if there are fundamental concerns with the DPP’s role and conduct in the review, then a party could seek to have the matter considered by way of judicial review.

“These legal mechanisms are available now, are judicially led and are, in my view, the additional safeguards to ensure the integrity of the administration of justice.”

The review was launched in 2024 after the Privy Council in London found that evidence submitted by Candy Zuleger, a US-based forensics expert, had been “flawed” and unbalanced in the case of Julian Washington, to the point that it wrongly implicated Mr Washington, whose conviction for a 2012 murder was therefore overturned.

Ms Clarke said the review initially covered the six-year period between 2009 and 2015 in which Trinity DNA Solutions carried out forensic analysis work for the Bermuda Police Service.

However, it was later expanded to include all of the 273 cases in which the company provided analysis since 2006.

As part of the review, the individual cases were each assessed to consider whether convictions were safe if DNA evidence was excluded, along with the viability of the conviction against each suspect on each charge as well as the defence case.

It was announced last month that of the cases reviewed, two additional “unsafe” convictions were identified and had been referred to the Court of Appeal.

However, Eron Hill, the director of the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative, said it was “unacceptable and insufficient” for the review to be conducted by the DPP and called for a full Commission of Inquiry into the conduct of Trinity DNA Solutions.

He added that, because of the way the review was handled by the DPP, there would be a wave of judicial review challenges.

In response to the comments, Mr Murdoch said he had taken a “keen interest” in the review and had discussed the process with Ms Clarke.

“In their judgment, the Privy Council did not raise any concerns to the review being conducted by the DPP,” he said.

“Indeed, they recognised that ‘ … the nature and extent of the review and by whom it is to be conducted is a matter for the DPP. The Board cannot direct the DPP to carry out the review in a particular way or by a particular person’.

“Given the DPP’s role under the Constitution and her overriding duty to the proper administration of justice, I have no concerns, in principle, with the DPP carrying out the review.

“She is best placed to do so, and she has done so in a transparent manner.”

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