Comment on Justices lean toward Buffey in oral arguments

By David Gutman Justices on the West Virginia Supreme Court forcefully questioned a Harrison County prosecutor Tuesday about why favorable DNA evidence had not been turned over to a defendant prior to his guilty plea being finalized in a sexual assault case 14 years ago.The case has drawn national attention because courts have never settled when evidence must be turned over, in the course of the plea process.The time line of the DNA discovery and the guilty plea were of particular interest to the justices who heard more than an hour of oral arguments, when 20 minutes is the norm.On Feb.