http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7186859.htmlSunday, September 5, 2010 | HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Finding ways to reduce wrongful convictions
By STATE SEN. RODNEY ELLIS and CORY SESSION
Timothy Cole was forced to suffer in prison for a crime he didn't commit. His pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears for 14 years, and he ultimately lost his life behind bars to an asthma attack before he could clear his name. Tim had no criminal record when he was arrested; there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime. He was locked away to die based solely on the faulty eyewitness testimony of a single witness.
Tim's case would be tragic enough if it were an isolated incident, but the unfortunate reality is wrongful convictions are disturbingly routine in the Lone Star State. We have the shameful distinction of leading the nation with 41 proven DNA exonerations, along with two more in Harris County in as many weeks this past month. These wrongful convictions are emblematic of far deeper problems at the core of our justice system — clear and convincing evidence that the system is broken.
Texas has spent countless taxpayer dollars building prisons and incarcerating the second highest number of people in the country. But we have failed to adequately invest in essential procedures to protect the rights and safety of our citizens, or at least ensure that we only send guilty people to prison. That's not being tough on crime. That's bad policy.
Wrongful convictions aren't solely a tragedy for those directly involved. They undermine the public's faith in the reliability of justice in our state, and they pose serious public safety issues: When innocent people are behind bars, the real criminals are still on the street committing crimes.
The good news is that we know what causes wrongful convictions, and we know how to fix it. From improving the quality of legal representation for the poor to improving the reliability of evidence in our courtrooms, there are simple reforms that can prevent these tragedies. By implementing reforms to police departments' eyewitness identification procedures, we could reduce many wrongful convictions. Some 85 percent of wrongful convictions in Texas are due to mistaken eyewitness identifications - the No. 1 cause of wrongful convictions in the state and the rest of the nation. Other reforms include recording interrogations to reduce false confessions and creating a fully functioning Texas Forensic Science Commission to ensure reliable science is being used in our crime labs and courtrooms. We simply have to summon the political will to advance all of these reforms.
Texas took an important first step toward repairing our broken justice system by creating the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel to investigate the causes of, and ways to prevent, wrongful convictions. The panel brought together representatives from various sectors of the criminal justice system to work collaboratively on recommendations to prevent wrongful convictions. Texas took another important step toward improving justice when the panel's report was approved by the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense.
Though the Cole panel did not address an important issue like improving the quality of legal representation for the poor, nor recommend creating an Innocence Commission to investigate future wrongful convictions, there is no denying the report contains integral steps to improve the quality and reliability of justice in Texas. The report recommended all law enforcement agencies adopt written eyewitness-identification procedures based on science and best practices to improve the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness identifications. The report also recommended that to prevent false confessions, the state of Texas should adopt a mandatory electronic recording policy for custodial interrogations in high level felonies. To ensure that defense lawyers have access to all the evidence against a defendant, discovery procedures should be improved according to the advisory panel. Finally, to make sure prisoners have ample access to post-conviction DNA testing and new scientific methods of proving innocence, Texas' post-conviction DNA statute and habeas writs statutes needs to be improved.
Now the ball is in the Legislature's court. We call on the Legislature and the next governor to make the reliability and integrity of our criminal justice system a top priority in the coming session - fairness and justice shouldn't be partisan issues.
Before Tim Cole died, he told his mother, "I still believe in the justice system even though it does not believe in me." Let's make Tim's belief in the justice system a reality. Texas can never get back the years and lives that have been destroyed by wrongful convictions, but we can dedicate ourselves to taking the necessary steps to create a justice system that truly protects the innocent, ensures the guilty are brought to justice, and is instilled with the fairness and integrity that justice demands. We owe Tim that much.
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Ellis, a Democrat, represents Texas Senate District 13. Session is the brother of Timothy Cole and is the policy director for the Innocence Project of Texas.
