Sunday, June 21, 2015

Bulletin: Major development: Texas junk science writ: Governor Abbott signs bill codifying s court decision that Texas' new junk science writ applies both to bad science and bad scientists. "Going forward, the statute will allow defendants to challenge false convictions whenever they relied on either bad science or a bad scientist at trial. And given the revelations in recent years regarding high error rates and a lack of scientific grounding regarding numerous forensic fields, the implications of the legislation may become even more significant over time than they seem today." Grits for Breakfast post;

"I'm out of town and won't have time to focus on recent veto announcements until later, but I couldn't resist passing along the excellent news that Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 3724 codifying the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision in Ex Parte Robbins, holding that Texas' new junk science writ applies both to bad science and bad scientists. For me, this completes a process begun seven years ago when the original statute was first conceived, and it's been a remarkable roller coaster ride since then. Going forward, the statute will allow defendants to challenge false convictions whenever they relied on either bad science or a bad scientist at trial. And given the revelations in recent years regarding high error rates and a lack of scientific grounding regarding numerous forensic fields, the implications of the legislation may become even more significant over time than they seem today. What terrific news! Congratulations and many thanks to everyone who helped make this possible, including to Gov. Abbott for signing the thing."
http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.ca/2015/06/abbott-signs-bill-codifying-broad.html