PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "A man who was scheduled to stand trial on a murder charge, Jonathan Pitts, was released from jail with an ankle monitor in early August because prosecutors couldn’t immediately be sure his case wasn’t impacted. He is still out of jail awaiting trial. The Richard Miles Act , written by Sen. Royce West and Rep. Rafael Anchia, targets a longstanding habit of law enforcement agencies across the state presenting just enough evidence to get an indictment, but delivering more evidence later — sometimes on the eve of trial, said Creuzot, who advocated for the law’s passage. The practice has long frustrated attorneys and judges, said defense lawyer Gary Udashen, who serves on the board of the Innocence Project of Texas. The organization supported the bill in the regular legislative session this spring."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "State law already mandated prosecutors turn over all their evidence to defense lawyers under the Michael Morton Act. But it relies on law enforcement officers to give everything they collect to prosecutors. The Richard Miles Act requires police to sign a statement saying they have given all their evidence to prosecutors. “The gap in the law that the Richard Miles Act covers is the district attorney really had no way to know for sure, or no verification, they had everything,” Udashen said."
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STORY: "D.A. Creuzot: New laws named for Dallas exonerate Richard Miles would have minimized evidence loss," by Staff Reporter Krista M. Torraiva, published by The Dallas Morning News, on October 18, 2021.
SUB-HEADING: :Police and lawyer say The Richard Miles Act will
PHOTO CAPTION: "Richard Miles photographed at the offices of his nonprofit, Miles of Freedom, on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, in Dallas. Miles spent 15 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The Richard Miles Act, which went into effect this year, requires law enforcement officers to verify that they turned over all their evidence to prosecutors."
GIST: "The loss of 22.5 terabytes of Dallas police evidence this year wouldn’t have caused such a panic if a new state law had already been on the books, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said.
The law, named for a Dallas man wrongfully convicted of murder, requires police agencies to verify they turned over all evidence when filing cases with prosecutors. If police later discover more evidence, they must immediately turn it over, the new law mandates.
After Dallas prosecutors discovered in July that a city IT employee deleted police evidence, Creuzot sent a notice to defense lawyers which set in motion public awareness. Prosecutors are combing through evidence, case-by-case, to make sure evidence wasn’t lost in cases preparing for trial, Creuzot said.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers would have been saved the extra work and concern if the Richard Miles Act had been in place already, Creuzot said. The loss is equivalent to about 7,500 hours of HD video; about 6 million photos; or 150 million pages of Microsoft Word documents.
“If this isn’t a perfect example right in our faces of why this office went for two sessions in a row to get this passed,” Creuzot said.
The Richard Miles Act is named for Miles, who wrongly spent 15 years in prison, after Dallas police did not turn over evidence to prosecutors that identified other suspects. He was exonerated in 2012.
As of Thursday, Creuzot said his office has not identified any cases in which prosecutors were missing evidence that couldn’t be recovered. But it required a coordinated effort with police to peel through each case and verify they weren’t impacted, Creuzot said. The review is ongoing.
“Even though the evidence may be there, it’s difficult to ascertain where it is,” Creuzot said.
A man who was scheduled to stand trial on a murder charge, Jonathan Pitts, was released from jail with an ankle monitor in early August because prosecutors couldn’t immediately be sure his case wasn’t impacted. He is still out of jail awaiting trial.
The Richard Miles Act , written by Sen. Royce West and Rep. Rafael Anchia, targets a longstanding habit of law enforcement agencies across the state presenting just enough evidence to get an indictment, but delivering more evidence later — sometimes on the eve of trial, said Creuzot, who advocated for the law’s passage.
The practice has long frustrated attorneys and judges, said defense lawyer Gary Udashen, who serves on the board of the Innocence Project of Texas. The organization supported the bill in the regular legislative session this spring.
In most cases, police don’t intentionally delay in delivering evidence to prosecutors, said Dallas Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez. Oftentimes, when preparing for trial, police and prosecutors compare notes and discover something that the officer neglected to turn over, Martinez said.
“We’re certainly not going to deny that has happened, and it’s unfortunate that it has,” Martinez said. “The Richard Miles Act is designed to make law enforcement accountable, and we have to be.”
State law already mandated prosecutors turn over all their evidence to defense lawyers under the Michael Morton Act. But it relies on law enforcement officers to give everything they collect to prosecutors. The Richard Miles Act requires police to sign a statement saying they have given all their evidence to prosecutors.
“The gap in the law that the Richard Miles Act covers is the district attorney really had no way to know for sure, or no verification, they had everything,” Udashen said.
Morton was exonerated in 2011 after wrongly spending nearly 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife in Williamson County. DNA evidence pointed to another man as the killer.
The prosecutor in Morton’s case, Ken Anderson, was sentenced to jail time for withholding evidence that would have helped Morton at trial. He was also disbarred.
Miles, who grew up in Oak Cliff, was prosecuted in Dallas County in 1995. His father discovered evidence was withheld in his son’s case after he filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act. The discovery led prosecutors to learn that Dallas police withheld evidence about other suspects. That evidence included a woman calling police to say her boyfriend was the killer.
Miles used part of the state restitution money he received after his exoneration to create Miles of Freedom, a South Dallas-based nonprofit that helps re-integrate people back into society after living in prison.
“The Richard Miles Act has the potential of saving innocent lives and holding true accountability for individuals that do commit crimes,” Miles said.
Udashen said he identified three of his own cases in the last few years in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties in which prosecutors discovered post-convictions that law enforcement had additional evidence and never provided it to them.
“These are cases that just illustrate how important this law is,” Udashen said.
The Richard Miles Act was one of few criminal justice reform wins during the regular legislative session, Udashen said. Advocates of criminal justice reform were disappointed this session after about 15 years of strong support from state lawmakers for bills designed to avoid wrongful convictions.
“We just kind of hit a roadblock this session,” Udashen said.
The law will make the criminal justice system more efficient and fair, Creuzot said. Prosecutors will be able to thoroughly assess a case when they receive it, he said, instead of re-evaluating the case each time additional evidence trickles in.
“It’s going to change the dynamic of how the police handle a case, and it’s going to change the dynamic of how we handle the case,” Creuzot said.
Martinez, the assistant chief, said Dallas police are evaluating how their processes need to be altered to comply with the law. Some changes that were already in the works, such as improvements to department technology, will be key, he said.
“The Richard Miles Act is forcing our department, probably almost like every department out there, to find efficiencies in our operations and our procedures so that we can put a complete case together, whether it helps convict or exonerate a person,” Martinez said.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
