Stephen B. Mercer

Steve Mercer is a practicing lawyer in Maryland (1995) and the District of Columbia (1997). Steve’s experience and expertise focus on the use of scientific evidence in criminal and civil litigation. Steve is considered one of the nation’s top attorneys on the subject of complex mixtures of touch DNA. Steve has over two decades of trial, appellate, and post-conviction experience, primarily in private practice. Also, from 2010 to 2017, Steve was the Chief Attorney of the Forensics Division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, nationally recognized as a model of excellence in forensic science litigation. Steve’s litigation highlights include challenges to a wide range of DNA/forensic science disciplines, from complex mixtures of touch DNA, presumptive serological and drug tests, microscopic hair comparison, synthetic fiber comparison, cell phone tracking, “shaken baby” child abuse, and many others. Significantly, the scope of Steve’s experience extends beyond a challenge to the methodology at issue to include assessing every avenue of litigation to block or neutralize DNA/forensic science evidence. Because of his experience, Steve can anticipate, identify and litigate novel issues about the collection, retention and use of DNA/forensic science evidence that other lawyers won’t spot. In a ground-breaking case, Steve litigated in 2002 the first constitutional challenge to Maryland’s DNA collection statute, (Maryland v. Raines) which laid the groundwork for his later representation of a client before the United States Supreme Court in a case which one justice described as “perhaps the most important criminal procedure case that this Court has heard in decades.” (Maryland v. King). Steve is widely recognized in Maryland trial and appellate courts for his DNA/forensic science litigation.