Statistics show there have been 316 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Since 2000, there have been 249 exonerations. 18 served time on death row. Another 16 were charged with capital crimes but not sentenced to death. DNA wouldn’t have exonerated Jesus…
According to The Gospels, Jesus was “tried” by Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate. The first three were bent on killing Jesus (Jn 11:48, 53), on some level the last wanted to declare Christ innocent. The following is from John MacArthur’s commentary from Matthew 26…
The Jews had a strict system for trials and justice. Rabbinical law required that a sentence of death could not be carried out until the third day after it was rendered and that during the intervening day the members of the court were to fast. That provision had the effect of preventing a trial during a feast, when fasting was prohibited. The delay of execution also provided additional time for evidence or testimony to be discovered in the defendant’s behalf.
The governing principle in capital cases was: “The Sanhedrin is to save, not destroy, life.” When properly administered, the Jewish system of justice was not only eminently fair but merciful. It is just as obvious that the system did not operate either fairly or mercifully in Jesus’ trial, because the Sanhedrin violated virtually every principle of its own system of jurisprudence. Jesus was illegally tried without first having been charged with a crime. He was tried at night and in private, no defense was permitted Him, and the witnesses against Him had been bribed to falsify their testimony. He was executed on the same day He was sentenced, and, consequently, the judges could not have fasted on the intervening day that should have transpired and had no opportunity to reconsider their verdict. The only procedure that was properly followed was the offering of the stupefying drink, but that was done by Roman soldiers, not by representatives of the Sanhedrin
Matt 26:57-68 reveals at least five aspects of that illegal and unjust treatment of our Lord: the convening of the Sanhedrin (vv. 57-58), the conspiracy to convict Jesus without evidence (vv. 59-61), the confrontation to induce His self-incrimination (we. 62-64), the condemnation based on false charges and testimony (vv. 65-66), and the conduct of the court in the physical and verbal abuse of Jesus (vv. 67-68).
The verdict had been decided before Jesus was arrested and DNA wouldn’t have helped. The fact remains that Jesus’ trials illegal according to Jewish Law.