Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 17, 2006 23:33:13 GMT -5
innocence claims
MIKE BAKER, Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Lesly Jean served a decade of jail time for a rape committed by another man.
Four witnesses testified in his defense and the Camp Lejeune Marine appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers struggled to get DNA testing.
But no one listened.
Now, the state lawmaker who worked as Jean's attorney for nine years is close to winning passage of drastic reforms to North Carolina's post-conviction process. "The whole thing taught me immense lessons about the human frailty of the system," Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said in a recent interview.
The General Assembly is on the brink of approving a bill that would create a state Innocence Commission, making North Carolina the first state in the nation with a judicial body charged solely with identifying wrongful convictions. Separate measures that would set up such a commission gained approval in both the House and Senate and are now in conference committee, where lawmakers are trying to resolve differences.
Jean's 2001 exoneration of the rape of a Jacksonville woman was one of several high-profile conviction reversals that captured public attention during the first half of this decade.
Others included the freeing in late 2003 of Darryl Hunt, convicted of a 1984 Winston-Salem murder but exonerated by DNA evidence. Hunt was later pardoned by Gov. Mike Easley.
And in 2004, a jury acquitted Alan Gell, a death row inmate who was retried for the 1995 killing of Bertie County man after it was revealed prosecutors withheld key evidence that would have helped his defense.
"Despite the best efforts of everyone, there are going to be mistakes," Glazier said. "We have to make sure we have a fail-safe in the system to deal with those rare cases where someone is actually innocent. We have to restore the public's confidence in the system."
Former N.C. Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. formed a coalition in 2002 to study and recommend reforms aimed at preventing wrongful convictions. That group recommended creation of a legal authority capable of investigating cases of declared factual innocence.
Under the proposal now being considered by state lawmakers, an eight-member committee - including a judge, a prosecutor and a defense attorney - would analyze credible claims based on new evidence that was not considered at trial. A majority vote of five of the eight panel members would require the state's chief justice to appoint three judges to look at the case.
That panel would have to unanimously agree that there was "clear and convincing evidence" of innocence before a prisoner could be set free.
The process is modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 1997, the U.K.'s Criminal Cases Review Commission has scrutinized more than 8,500 cases. The body has sent about 4 percent of appeals back to court.
About two-thirds of those - some 220 total - have resulted in convictions being overturned.
In the United States, despite a prison population 25 times that of the U.K., there have been just 182 prisoners exonerated by DNA tests, according to the New York-based Innocence Project, a legal group that represents prisoners in possible cases of wrongful incarceration.
"We have reason to believe that there are many, many more innocent people in prison" than have been freed so far, said Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project.
As in many other states, winning a post-conviction reversal can be arduous in North Carolina. Defense attorneys have long argued that the innocent stand little chance of ever being freed once they are sent to prison.
"Judges get hundreds of motions for appropriate relief and 99 percent of them are frivolous," Glazier said. "There aren't enough resources to look through them all, so the few that have merit get lost in the shuffle."
For that reason, a national group - the Conference of Chief Justices - in 2005 passed a resolution calling for reforms to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions. Glazier said he's already fielding calls from innocence groups in other states, as advocates see the possibility of a commission being started here.
"It's certainly being looked at nationally - as it should," said Chris
Mumma, executive director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, a group that backs innocence claims it finds credible. "People have had their eyes on North Carolina for a year, ever since the commission first got support."
The conference committee looking at the Innocence Commission bills is to meet for the first time Monday, seeking compromise on some differences.
The House version would give the state Supreme Court the power to review innocence cases in which two of three judges wanted to clear a person, while the Senate's version requires unanimity for an innocence declaration.
North Carolina's Conference of District Attorneys wants to keep intact a Senate provision that would bar people who plead guilty from seeking innocence commission relief. Senators have also included a "sunset" provision supported by the DAs that would end the commission after four years unless future lawmakers extend it.
"It's a good idea to try it out," said Peg Dorer, executive director of the district attorneys' coalition. "But having never done it in the United States, a sunset measure would be appropriate."
The General Assembly has already budgeted over $200,000 to start the commission. Glazier said he has "no doubt that a commission will pass before the end of session."
"People talk about being tough on crime, but this is about solving crime," Glazier said. "We have a moral imperative to make sure it's done properly."
Source : Associated Press
www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15052912.htm
MIKE BAKER, Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Lesly Jean served a decade of jail time for a rape committed by another man.
Four witnesses testified in his defense and the Camp Lejeune Marine appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers struggled to get DNA testing.
But no one listened.
Now, the state lawmaker who worked as Jean's attorney for nine years is close to winning passage of drastic reforms to North Carolina's post-conviction process. "The whole thing taught me immense lessons about the human frailty of the system," Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said in a recent interview.
The General Assembly is on the brink of approving a bill that would create a state Innocence Commission, making North Carolina the first state in the nation with a judicial body charged solely with identifying wrongful convictions. Separate measures that would set up such a commission gained approval in both the House and Senate and are now in conference committee, where lawmakers are trying to resolve differences.
Jean's 2001 exoneration of the rape of a Jacksonville woman was one of several high-profile conviction reversals that captured public attention during the first half of this decade.
Others included the freeing in late 2003 of Darryl Hunt, convicted of a 1984 Winston-Salem murder but exonerated by DNA evidence. Hunt was later pardoned by Gov. Mike Easley.
And in 2004, a jury acquitted Alan Gell, a death row inmate who was retried for the 1995 killing of Bertie County man after it was revealed prosecutors withheld key evidence that would have helped his defense.
"Despite the best efforts of everyone, there are going to be mistakes," Glazier said. "We have to make sure we have a fail-safe in the system to deal with those rare cases where someone is actually innocent. We have to restore the public's confidence in the system."
Former N.C. Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. formed a coalition in 2002 to study and recommend reforms aimed at preventing wrongful convictions. That group recommended creation of a legal authority capable of investigating cases of declared factual innocence.
Under the proposal now being considered by state lawmakers, an eight-member committee - including a judge, a prosecutor and a defense attorney - would analyze credible claims based on new evidence that was not considered at trial. A majority vote of five of the eight panel members would require the state's chief justice to appoint three judges to look at the case.
That panel would have to unanimously agree that there was "clear and convincing evidence" of innocence before a prisoner could be set free.
The process is modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 1997, the U.K.'s Criminal Cases Review Commission has scrutinized more than 8,500 cases. The body has sent about 4 percent of appeals back to court.
About two-thirds of those - some 220 total - have resulted in convictions being overturned.
In the United States, despite a prison population 25 times that of the U.K., there have been just 182 prisoners exonerated by DNA tests, according to the New York-based Innocence Project, a legal group that represents prisoners in possible cases of wrongful incarceration.
"We have reason to believe that there are many, many more innocent people in prison" than have been freed so far, said Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project.
As in many other states, winning a post-conviction reversal can be arduous in North Carolina. Defense attorneys have long argued that the innocent stand little chance of ever being freed once they are sent to prison.
"Judges get hundreds of motions for appropriate relief and 99 percent of them are frivolous," Glazier said. "There aren't enough resources to look through them all, so the few that have merit get lost in the shuffle."
For that reason, a national group - the Conference of Chief Justices - in 2005 passed a resolution calling for reforms to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions. Glazier said he's already fielding calls from innocence groups in other states, as advocates see the possibility of a commission being started here.
"It's certainly being looked at nationally - as it should," said Chris
Mumma, executive director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, a group that backs innocence claims it finds credible. "People have had their eyes on North Carolina for a year, ever since the commission first got support."
The conference committee looking at the Innocence Commission bills is to meet for the first time Monday, seeking compromise on some differences.
The House version would give the state Supreme Court the power to review innocence cases in which two of three judges wanted to clear a person, while the Senate's version requires unanimity for an innocence declaration.
North Carolina's Conference of District Attorneys wants to keep intact a Senate provision that would bar people who plead guilty from seeking innocence commission relief. Senators have also included a "sunset" provision supported by the DAs that would end the commission after four years unless future lawmakers extend it.
"It's a good idea to try it out," said Peg Dorer, executive director of the district attorneys' coalition. "But having never done it in the United States, a sunset measure would be appropriate."
The General Assembly has already budgeted over $200,000 to start the commission. Glazier said he has "no doubt that a commission will pass before the end of session."
"People talk about being tough on crime, but this is about solving crime," Glazier said. "We have a moral imperative to make sure it's done properly."
Source : Associated Press
www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15052912.htm