Man to access DNA for 'innocence test'

Queensland will become the first state in Australia to allow a convicted man to access the DNA used to convict him of murder nearly 20 years ago, in a bid to prove his innocence.

Following a decision by the state's attorney-general, DNA swabs relied on at the trial will be privately retested, to determine whether the man was wrongly convicted.

High-profile defence lawyer Chris Nyst praised the move, which came after 10 years of lobbying from the Griffith University Innocence Project.

Mr Nyst believed it was the first time anywhere in Australia an attorney-general had personally intervened to allow such a move.

"We think it's a pretty bold and progressive action by the attorney-general," he told AAP.

"From a defence advocate's point of view it's a no-brainer, because if you have the technology to check these things then you should use that technology.

"From the point of view of bureaucracy and government it's not that simple."

Opponents of innocence testing say it raises privacy and victims' rights concerns, and may also open the floodgates for hundreds of tests.

But Mr Nyst says if the wrong person is in prison, then the real perpetrator is free to commit further crimes.

In the United States, DNA innocence testing is available in 43 of the 50 states and has resulted in 240 exonerations.

Mr Nyst co-founded the Innocence Project in 2001, employing students to examine cases under the direction of pro bono lawyers and academics.

It has hundreds of cases on its books from all over Australia.

The lawyers had to seek the attorney-general's permission to access the DNA because no innocence testing legislation exists in any Australian state.

Mr Nyst said the prisoner concerned - who cannot be named - was convicted of a crime on the Gold Coast and had been proclaiming his innocence for the past 20 years.

He had been offered parole several times in the past five years, but refused on the grounds he believed he didn't commit the crime in the first place.

Mr Nyst said advances in DNA technology had revealed the potential for shortcomings in early cases where DNA was used.

"It would beggar belief to think we get everything right all the time," he said.

"The Innocence Project says the repercussions of that are so crucial, that it's something that can't be left to chance."