Bill would up penalty on prosecutors who suppress evidence



BY BILL HANNA
billhanna@star-telegram.com
In response to the exoneration of wrongfully convicted inmates, 
lawmakers filed legislation this week to crack down on prosecutors 
who withhold vital information from defendants.

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, filed the bill, SB 1608, after 19 
Dallas County men — and at least 35 others statewide — were found to 
have been wrongfully imprisoned, sometimes after improper conduct by 
prosecutors.

The bill would lift the statute of limitations on official-oppression 
cases and raise the penalty from a misdemeanor to a state jail felony 
if the withheld evidence was favorable to the defendant.

Kelvin Bass, legislative aide for West, said the bill would allow for 
review years after wrongful conviction.

But Terri Moore, first assistant district attorney for Dallas County, 
said the bill would expose prosecutors to punishment even if police 
had suppressed evidence and prosecutors didn’t know about it.

"Now I’m committing a felony because I didn’t turn something over to 
the defense that I didn’t even know existed?" Moore said. "I got a 
problem with that."

State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, who sponsored the House 
version of the bill, HB 3351, said those concerns will likely be 
addressed in later versions. But Naishtat said the legislation is 
needed for prosecutors who deliberately suppress evidence.

"We need to make it clear to all prosecutors that suppression of 
evidence favorable to a defendant is unacceptable and illegal."

The bill is one of many being filed this session dealing with 
wrongful prosecutions.

Last month, Timothy Cole of Fort Worth was posthumously exonerated of 
his 1986 conviction for the sexual assault of a Texas Tech University 
student. He died in 1999 while serving a 25-year sentence.

One of the lessons of the Dallas County cases, Moore said, is that 
DNA evidence has shown that law enforcement relied too heavily on 
witnesses’ accounts and the way those identifications were handled.

"Technology showed us how poor eyewitness investigation is," she said.

In 2008, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals established the Texas 
Criminal Justice Integrity Unit to review the strengths and 
weaknesses of the criminal justice system.

But state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has filed SB 115, which would 
establish an independent innocence commission.

Justice reform Several bills have been filed related to actual-
innocence cases.

SB 115 would establish an innocence commission.
SB 116 would require video recording of custodial interrogations.
SB 117 would increase the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness 
identification.
HB 3594 would ensure the preservation of biological evidence.
HB 1736 would increase the lump sum that exonerees could receive from 
the state to $80,000 for each year of imprisonment. Exonerees are now 
eligible for $50,000 per year.


BILL HANNA, 817-390-7698

http://www.star-telegram.com/dallas_news/story/1257661.html