KUT News posts, "Bill Would Change DNA Testing Procedures in Death Penalty Cases." It's by Veronica Zaragovia and Laura Rice. There is audio at the link.
A Texas Senate committee passed a bill last night that would require DNA testing of evidence in cases involving the death penalty.The proposal will now go to the full senate for a vote.
Original Story (April 9, 2013, 5:24 p.m.) Texas lawmakers are weighing a bill that would require DNA testing of evidence in cases involving the death penalty.
In the state, local crime labs handle DNA testing at the discretion of local law enforcement. State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston), wants to change that.
Working with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Sen. Ellis has authored a bill that would require the state to pay for DNA testing before death penalty trials begin.
The Texas Tribune posts, "Huffman Wants 'Michael Morton Act' to Add Restriction," by Brandi Grissom.
A fight over what defense lawyers can do with information about their clients in criminal cases after prosecutors turn it over to them is threatening to stymie the “Michael Morton Act.”
The measure, Senate Bill 1611 by state Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, would require prosecutors to turn over evidence to defense lawyers in criminal cases. Currently, prosecutors aren't required to provide evidence to defense lawyers unless ordered to by the court, though many Texas prosecutors have some form of open file policy.
The bill is one of several filed in response to the 2011 exoneration of Michael Morton, who spent nearly 25 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted in 1987 of his wife’s murder. His lawyers allege that the prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, who is now a Williamson County state judge, withheld critical evidence from Morton’s lawyers. Anderson denies any wrongdoing in the case.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Southside Place, and some prosecutors want a restriction in SB 1611 that would limit whom defense lawyers can share information with once they’ve received it from the state. They said the current bill could jeopardize the safety of victims by allowing public disclosure of private information. Ellis, defense lawyers and at least one victims organization, however, say the current bill would not present danger for crime victims or witnesses. Some worry that Huffman and the prosecutors are working to render the measure meaningless.
Huffman, a former Harris County prosecutor and criminal court judge, said that she supports SB 1611 and that it contains "very necessary reforms." She described the changes she is requesting as “tweaks.”
She and some district attorneys want to include a requirement in the bill that would force defense attorneys to seek court approval before sharing information they obtain in the discovery process with third parties. Defense lawyers could share information with their staff, the defendant, co-counsel in the case as well as expert witnesses. But they would be prohibited from telling anyone outside that “entrusted circle” without permission of the court.
More information on SB 1292 (DNA testing) and SB 1611 (Criminal Discovery) is at the Texas Legislature Online website.
Earlier coverage of the Texas Legislature current session notes several items:
- Racial justice legislation proposed by Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins
- Creation of a Texas Innocence Commission
- Scientific standards for the evaluation of Intellectual Disability
- Criminal discovery
- Forensics
- Electronic recording of custodial interrogations
Related posts are in the Texas Legislature categoy index.
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