Live Blogging the Summit

I'll be live blogging Senator Rodney Ellis' Summit on Wrongful Convictions.  It's just starting with Senator Ellis making introductory comments and recognizing the dozen or so House and Senate members attending the Summit.

The Summit is being webcast, here, on channel 1.

A group of nine exonerees is at a front table.  James Lee Woodard just started, as they introduce themselves.  Every one of these stories is a powerful testimony to flaws that led to wrongful convictons.

The thirty-one desks in the Senate chamber are filled with legislators, judges from the Court of Criminal Appeals, law enforcement personnel, staff from innocence projects, policy makers, judges, State Bar of Texas officials (former SBoT President Martha Dickie), and criminal justice reform advocates(Edwin Colfax and Andrea Marsh) .  District Attorneys Barry Macha of Wichita Falls and Craig Watkins are also present.  Travis County's next DA, Rosemary Lehmberg, is also here.

Exonerees are still talking on-by-one and discussing specific reforms such as eyewitness identification procedures and improvements to Texas' post-conviction DNA testing access that would have helped prevent their wrongful convictions or led to earlier exonerations.

Media outlets are present, including Elise Hu, KVUE-TV's Capitol reporter, so I expect to see lots of print and broadcast coverage.  News 8 Austin, Time-Warner cable's local Austin news channel is also here. (1:50 pm)

The exonerees have finished, and Senator Ellis is about to recognize Barry Scheck, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, to speak. (2:01 pm)  Among other best practices, he just mentioned the Tarrant County District Attorney's office open-file policy and the need for better discovery in Texas. (2:11 pm)

Craig Watkins will be speaking after Scheck.  (2:05 pm)

Watkins is speaking now.  (2:23 pm)

Senator Ellis is now opening the forum to discussion and he's called on CCA Judge Barbara Hervey. CCA Judge Cheryl Johnson is also here.  (2:31 pm)

Senator John Whitmire, Dean of the Senate and Chair of Senate Criminal Justice, is speaking now. (2:33 pm)  He is delivering a serious, hard-edged message to his colleagues about the need to pass reforms, and urging his colleagues to do a better job of reading their mail and actively investigate credible cases that are submitted by constituents. 

He also expressed his frustration of being an official from Harris County who has been unable to prod the Harris County DA's office to become more active in examining wrongful convictions.  Assistant DA Roe Wilson is here from that office.  He lauded Craig Watkins for, "doing the right thing."  (2:43 pm)

New Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is speaking now.  (2:44 pm)

Edwin Colfax of the Justice Project is talking about eyewitness id reforms.  (2:53 pm)  The last link is to a Justice Project publication on the topic.

Harris County ADA Roe Wilson is about to speak.  The office has had a very rocky road for years now, ever since the beginning of the HPD crime lab scandal.  Earlier this year, DA Chuck Rosenthal resigned in disgrace due to inappropriate e-mailing that involved his political campaign and non-office matters.  (3:03 pm)  She is describing the office's current relationship with the Innocence Project. She mentioned that the office has been reviewing all Chapter 64 (of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; access to post-conviction DNA testing) requests for post-conviction DNA testing, including those that had been rejecting by Texas courts.

Senator Whitmire is pressing her on the office's review of convictions where questions have been raised.  3:09 pm)

State Rep. Terri Hodge, a resolute advocate for the incarcerated, is speaking now about the problems of prosecutorial misconduct.  (3:10 pm)

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt just spoke.

I had to step away for a few minutes to answer some questions from a reporter.  Senator Bob Deuell just spoke.  A number of people are making brief comments now, including Walker County DA David Weeks and Innocence Project of Texas director Jeff Blackburn. (3:35 pm)

State Rep. Jim McReynolds is speaking now about working on legislation in the House last session.  (3:48 pm)

It sounds as if Senator Ellis hopes to close the Summit in about 15 minutes, at 4:00 pm.  A very powerful statement that the Legislature needs to do what's right.

Mary Anne Wiley, one of Governor Perry's key criminal justice advisors in his General Counsel's office, is speaking now about some past collaborative work involving the Governor's office, legislators, and advocates and looking to future work.  (3:51 pm)

An exoneree closed the Summit with a statement about the need for jobs and support.

The Summit should be available at Senate Media Services for archival viewing, here.