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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 3 May 2007 Anthony M Destefano of Newsday reported “DNA bill would protect the wrongly convicted”

With a Queens building where police evidence is stored as a backdrop, a group of innocence advocates and state legislators Thursday announced an ambitious package of bills aimed at making sure DNA technology protects the innocent. The package includes measures to guarantee defendants access to fingerprint and DNA testing in cases where they may have been wrongly convicted. One proposal also calls for creation of an Innocence Commission to recommend changes after studying cases of innocent people who were improperly convicted.

Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, the nonprofit Manhattan group that has helped exonerate scores of defendants across the country, said DNA technology has cleared 23 defendants in New York, including nine in the past 16 months. Scheck told Newsday he believes the most important bill in the package unveiled Thursday gives defendants the right to petition a judge to have fingerprint and DNA evidence found at a crime scene checked to identify other possible suspects.

The testing bill, proposed by Assemb Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), would allow such checks to be done before trial or after conviction, Scheck said. Under current law, some judges have denied potentially innocent people access to such testing, advocates said. "It is so important to not only protect the innocent but make sure the guilty parties are convicted," Lentol said in an interview.

The right created by his bill, Lentol added, would "level the playing field and also let DNA speak for itself." "The facts don't lie," said Assemb. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria). "The data indicate now we have an epidemic of wrongful convictions in New York State."

As part of the legislative package, Gianaris is proposing creation of the Innocence Commission. He described it as a panel that would review cases of wrongful conviction, find out what went wrong and propose changes. Advocates noted that six other states have created similar bodies.

Another measure proposed by Lentol would create a commission to set standards for the retention of evidence. Defense attorneys have long criticized the New York Police Department evidence facility at Pearson Place in Queens for losing and improperly storing DNA samples. Mishandling of evidence there led to the wrongful 1985 conviction of Alan Newton for rape in a case that netted him 21 years in prison before DNA testing cleared him last year, Innocence Project officials said. Gianaris said the NYPD has made big strides in correcting the situation at Pearson Place but legislation still is needed

Source: 3 May 2007 Anthony M Destefano, Newsday “DNA bill would protect the wrongly convicted”

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