Lawmakers call for commission to probe wrongful convictions
Source: Houston Chronicle
Lawmakers call for commission to probe wrongful convictions
Monday, April 22, 2013
The State of Texas has found at least 117 prisoners innocent of crimes for which they were convicted in the past 25 years and a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to know why errors were made.
The group, led by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, detailed their plan, HB 166, to create a state agency to review errors in Texas exoneration cases at a press conference Monday. The proposal, which will be considered by the House on Tuesday, would create the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission.
Texas has been showcased as the number one state in the nation for wrongful convictions, McClendon said. Each conviction of an innocent person reveals a tragic failure of the justice system.
The focus of the commission would be to bring an end to wrongful convictions in the state, she said, but the agency could only review past exoneration cases and finalized habeas corpus cases. The commission would not re-open cases or interfere with ongoing investigations, she said.
Read more: http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2013/04/lawmakers-call-for-commission-to-probee-wrongful-convictions/
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)got railroaded because he wouldnt play ball with DimSon's illegal telephone spying.