The Dallas County DA righting injustices

[Capital_Defense]

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_vi...ml?id=4069405n

I wish more prosecutors shared this DA's point of view.

[txinvestigator1]

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_vi...ml?id=4069405n

I wish more prosecutors shared this DA's point of view.

A synopsis;

The Dallas DA has just had the 16th or 17th person released from jail who had been convicted of a crime they did not commit. This was done using DNA testing that was either not available or not used at the time of the original trial. Most were convicted on eye-witness testimony alone.

The new DA is claiming that the old school administration (Henry Wade) was only interested in wins, and cared not about justice. He also claims that administration often withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

Knowing how Dallas county was run back in the 50s-late 80's, I don't doubt it one bit. I also think that has been pretty much SOP back then for many areas of the country.

The new DA is pushing for new legislation that would make withholding exculpatory evidence a crime.

[Capital_Defense]

A synopsis;

The Dallas DA has just had the 16th or 17th person released from jail who had been convicted of a crime they did not commit. This was done using DNA testing that was either not available or not used at the time of the original trial. Most were convicted on eye-witness testimony alone.

The new DA is claiming that the old school administration (Henry Wade) was only interested in wins, and cared not about justice. He also claims that administration often withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

Knowing how Dallas county was run back in the 50s-late 80's, I don't doubt it one bit. I also think that has been pretty much SOP back then for many areas of the country.

The new DA is pushing for new legislation that would make withholding exculpatory evidence a crime.

Thanks, for the synopsis.

Here is some more info:

...Watkins not only hasn’t fought innocence and wrongful conviction claims, he’s been seeking them out, correctly understanding that a prosecutor’s job isn’t to see how many people he can throw in prison, it’s to work toward the fair administration of justice.

Watkins set up his own task force to work with the Texas Innocence Project to investigate wrongful conviction claims. His is the only DA’s office in the country to work directly with an Innocence Project chapter. Since 2001, [17] people in Dallas County alone have been exonerated and released from prison after DNA testing. Watkins’ task force will now look at 350 more cases. Dallas now has the highest exoneration rate in the country, and trails only New York and L.A. in total exonerations. Watkins’ efforts means those numbers are only likely to grow.

Watkins’ efforts have also aided by an odd anomaly: Because Dallas has long outsourced most of its lab work, it’s one of the few jurisdictions in the country where biological evidence has been preserved (despite the best efforts of the city’s prosecutors over the years). So testable DNA evidence exists for cases from well before DNA technology came into being.

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/01/0...cutor-of-2007/

[chiefhuntr]

I just watched the Dateline or 60 Minutes show that featured this guy. He is the first black DA in Texas. When the last guy was cleared, this DA looked him in the eye and said he was sorry for all the wrong that had been done him.

Im all for seeing the bad guys in jail but I like to see someone who is not afraid to stand up and say "we were wrong."

[GoDirectly2Jail]

I don't think there's a person on here, who's against making the Criminal Justice System a more trustworthy one...