"THE EMPHASIS OF THE CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT ESTABLISHED BY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CRAIG WATKINS IN 2007 IS SHIFTING TOWARD CHALLENGING CASES WHERE THERE IS NO DNA TO TEST, BUT WHERE QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT AN INMATE'S GUILT OR INNOCENCE. WITHOUT DNA EVIDENCE, THESE CASES REQUIRE MORE TIME AND CAN MEAN INVESTIGATING A CRIME THAT OCCURRED YEARS AGO AS THOUGH IT JUST HAPPENED: TRACKING DOWN WITNESSES, COMPARING FINGERPRINTS TO SEE IF THERE IS A MATCH WHEN ONE DIDN'T EXIST BEFORE, SEEKING NEW EVIDENCE......WITH SO MANY DNA EXONEREES IN DALLAS COUNTY – CURRENTLY HOLDING AT 20 – THE UNIT'S WORK HAS BEEN FEATURED ON TELEVISION SHOWS SUCH AS THE VIEW, 60 MINUTES AND THE COLBERT REPORT. WATKINS, THE FIRST ELECTED BLACK DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN TEXAS HISTORY, WAS PROFILED IN THE WASHINGTON POST, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND THE NEW YORK TIMES. INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY ALSO CREATED A SHOW ABOUT THE CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT AND THE EXONEREES CALLED DALLAS DNA."
REPORTER JENNIFER EMILY; THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS;
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"It's been almost a year since the last DNA exoneree walked out of a Dallas County courtroom and into the world as a free man," the Dallas Morning News story by reporter Jennifer Emily, published on May 23, 2010, under the heading, "Dallas County office that's exonerated 20 turns focus to non-DNA cases," begins.
"The flood of exonerations in Dallas County, where since 2001 more wrongfully convicted people have been freed through DNA testing than anywhere else in the nation, is slowing to a trickle," the story continues.
"There are only so many cases where genetic evidence is available to test.
But the work is far from over.
The emphasis of the conviction integrity unit established by District Attorney Craig Watkins in 2007 is shifting toward challenging cases where there is no DNA to test, but where questions remain about an inmate's guilt or innocence.
Without DNA evidence, these cases require more time and can mean investigating a crime that occurred years ago as though it just happened: tracking down witnesses, comparing fingerprints to see if there is a match when one didn't exist before, seeking new evidence.
Watkins says he hopes his office can use lessons learned during years of DNA testing to improve police work. Bad witness identification, for example, has been a factor in most of Dallas' DNA exonerations. There are also several cases where prosecutors or police withheld evidence that could have prevented a conviction.
Watkins said his perspective has changed since the unit began. He's realized that it can do much more than free the innocent.
"At the time, I started out looking at legitimate claims of innocence, and obviously we still do," said Watkins. "But now, it's how can we improve prosecutor and police techniques. It's about the ability to argue for changes in the law."
This is the future of overturning wrongful convictions in Dallas County.
National attention
The work of the conviction integrity unit captured the national spotlight because of the unusual nature of its existence and its agreement to look at previously denied DNA testing requests in tandem with the Innocence Project of Texas.
With so many DNA exonerees in Dallas County – currently holding at 20 – the unit's work has been featured on television shows such as The View, 60 Minutes and The Colbert Report. Watkins, the first elected black district attorney in Texas history, was profiled in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Investigation Discovery also created a show about the conviction integrity unit and the exonerees called Dallas DNA.
Christo Doyle, executive producer of the show, said he was drawn to the work at the district attorney's office because of the unusual nature of the work and because he found Watkins and those who work for him to be "great characters."
"What they're doing down there is pioneering. It's not being done in other parts of the country," Doyle said. "Craig Watkins is a pioneer."
Watkins, Mike Ware, who oversees the conviction integrity unit, and others from the DA's office have been invited to speak to prosecutors, law schools and law enforcement nationwide about their work.
Examining evidence
Of the 502 cases the Dallas County DA's office decided to examine for potential DNA testing, prosecutors tested and have the results for 50 cases. Many of those requests had been denied by the previous district attorney, Bill Hill.
So far, seven men have been exonerated through those tests and guilt has been confirmed for 28 inmates, Ware said. The remaining tests were inconclusive. Some could end up being investigated further, but others do not have other evidence to pursue.
Six cases are in testing and the conviction integrity unit is gathering DNA swabs for another half dozen.
The more than 400 cases the DA's office didn't test either had no genetic evidence or the DNA would not have proved guilt or innocence.
DNA could also be tested in a couple of cases where the inmate died. "They're not at the front of the list," Ware said. "But we're not going to rule it out."
Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Perry posthumously pardoned a Fort Worth man, Timothy Cole, after DNA showed he was wrongly convicted of a rape in Lubbock.
Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore, a former board president for the Innocence Project of Texas, said she believes Dallas County will see more DNA exonerations.
"I think when it's all said and done ... there could be another DNA exoneration," said Moore, who worked on the cases of seven men freed by DNA in Dallas County.
She also said new DNA cases could pop up because those on parole could request postconviction testing. Moore said she doesn't think most people on parole realize they can request the testing.
While there's been no formal in-house training about the problems that lead to wrongful convictions, lessons are passed down from supervisors to lower-level prosecutors on a daily basis, said Terri Moore, the top assistant to Watkins.
"Communicating it is passed from the super chiefs and working it on down the line," Moore said. "Everybody comes for the exonerations; they see and we talk."
The idea of conviction integrity offices is spreading.
The New York County district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., created a conviction integrity program in March. There, 10 of the office's 500 prosecutors are looking into cases with and without DNA.
Setting the standard
Even as others study the Dallas integrity unit's DNA work, prosecutors in the office have worked to free four men from prison by reinvestigating cases without any genetic testing.
Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school in Chicago, said Dallas County continues to set the standard for how to handle wrongful convictions, especially as it investigates non-DNA cases.
"It should serve as a national model as it has in the DNA cases," Warden said. "As prosecutors' offices are concerned, I'm not sure too many are moving in that direction."
One of the freed men, Richard Miles, said he's grateful the district attorney's office is considering cases such as his, and not just ones with preserved DNA evidence.
"The fact that the integrity unit and Craig Watkins have keyed in on non-DNA cases is good," said Miles, who spent nearly 15 years behind bars for murder and attempted murder before being freed in October.
But he does have concerns.
"I think society is not ready for non-DNA cases and seeing people go free without that definite answer."
Danny Clancy, Watkins' Republican challenger in the November election, still sees a future for non-DNA cases if he is elected – although with a more reined-in approach.
"We just have to be very careful, especially in the non-DNA cases," said Clancy, who said it is a prosecutor's "oath" to seek justice, even if it's delayed.
"It becomes a slippery slope when we start second-guessing jury verdicts, but we have to be prepared to do that when new, credible evidence is presented that points to an individual's innocence."
Unlike the other men, Miles isn't completely free. Although he's out of jail, prosecutors are still looking into his convictions for murder and attempted murder, where evidence was withheld, and a witness may have been coerced by a prosecutor to identify Miles as the shooter. They also are investigating whether another man may have committed the crimes.
Ware, prosecutor Cynthia R. Garza, investigator James Hammond and paralegal Jena Parker – the four members of the conviction integrity unit – say they are using the lessons learned from the certainty of the wrongful convictions in the DNA cases to guide them.
They question the reliability of eyewitness identification, and while it's not always incorrect, Ware says it is not the "gold standard" that prosecutors and juries once believed it to be.
An investigation by The Dallas Morning News in 2008 showed that all but one of the DNA exonerations involved faulty eyewitness identification.
They also look for the possibility of false convictions and withheld evidence.
"You look at the record and you wonder, 'How could these guys have been convicted?' " said Ware, sitting in his office, surrounded by boxes of case files. "A lot of the DNA cases are like that. But some aren't. You look at some of these [DNA exonerations] cases and you wonder how this guy could have been innocent."
DA'S SCORECARD
502
Cases the district attorney's office reviewed to determine if DNA testing should be granted
20
DNA exonerees in Dallas County since 2001
28
Inmates whose guilt was confirmed by DNA testing
12
Months since there was a DNA exoneration in Dallas County
12
Minimum number of DNA cases where results of testing are pending
4
Wrongfully convicted men released from prison without DNA evidence
NOTE: The more than 400 cases the district attorney's office didn't test either had no genetic evidence or the DNA would not have proved guilt or innocence."
The story can be found at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052310dnmetdnaexonerees.18683dd3.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
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