In re Fain, 514 S.W.3d 917

Relator Roger Eugene Fain, convicted of capital murder (2007) and sentenced to life, filed multiple post-conviction motions for DNA testing; appellate court previously affirmed and partially reversed earlier denials.
In April 2013 Fain filed a second motion seeking testing of additional items; this court reversed in part and remanded, directing testing on specified items.
Trial court ordered DNA testing June 14, 2015; evidence and known samples were delivered to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) lab in June–October 2015.
Trial court authorized DPS to deplete samples in October 2016 to obtain the best DNA profile. A knife was excluded because it was not in custody.
Despite these steps, testing remained pending at the DPS lab for an extended period; Fain sought a writ of mandamus to compel the trial court to force the State to be "more pro-active" in obtaining results.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether mandamus should compel the trial court to force the State to accelerate DNA testing	Fain: trial court should be ordered to compel the State to be more proactive in obtaining DPS DNA results	State: trial court has not abused discretion; delay is with DPS, not the court; no predicate request to the trial court to act	Denied: no mandamus jurisdiction because Fain did not make a specific request to the trial court and there is no clear abuse of discretion to correct

In re State, 355 S.W.3d 611 (Tex. 2011) (mandamus proper only for clear abuse of discretion when no adequate appellate remedy exists)
In re Olshan Found. Repair Co., 328 S.W.3d 883 (Tex. 2010) (abuse of discretion standard explained)
Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833 (Tex. 1992) (orig. proceeding) (standard for reviewing discretionary rulings)
In re Perritt, 992 S.W.2d 444 (Tex. 1999) (mandamus generally requires a predicate request and refusal)