M-Vac is now primarily used to collect DNA in criminal cases. A man who pleaded to an Alford Plea in the murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Damien Echols, has petitioned the state of Arkansas to use M-Vac testing on the ligatures collected in the case.
A hearing Thursday will consider a request by one of three men convicted of the 1993 murders of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys for new testing of evidence.