Crime Time

'Racial Justice Act' suggested by Dallas DA Watkins

Craig Watkins, the Dallas County district attorney, says he wants lawmakers to consider a "Racial Justice Act."

This act, he explained in a recent interview, could allow defendants to introduce evidence to argue that their prosecutions or sentences were influenced by race.

Watkins has already built a reputation for using DNA tests to free wrongfully convicted inmates.

In Dallas County, 28 of the 33 people who have been exonerated of crimes since 2001 are black, according to a spokeswoman for the DA's office.

According to Watkins, "I would imagine that there are individuals, not just in prison, but particularly on death row, that were convicted because of the color of their skin ...The issue that we're bringing to light is to make sure that everything is fair, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, and you're treated just like anyone else.

"And if you deserve a death sentence, then you will get it. If you didn't, then you shouldn't be on death row."

Read more in this report Nomaan Merchant of The Associated Press.

 

Tim Cole gets first posthumous pardon in Texas

UPDATE: Wrongly convicted Fort Worth man gets state's first posthumous pardon

AND FROM EARLIER:

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is recommending clemency for a Fort Worth man who was wrongfully convicted on rape charges 25 years ago.

But if Tim Cole is pardoned, it will be posthumously.

Cole (left)  died in 1999, at age 39, from complications of asthma.

As a Texas Tech University student in 1985, Cole became the target of a serial rape investigation in Lubbock and, a year later, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

DNA tests and a confession from another man cleared him of the crime in 2009, which was advocated by the Innocence Project.

"To say that the wheels of justice turn slowly would be an understatement," said Cory Session, Cole's brother. "The question is: How many more Tim Coles are out there?"

Staff writer Mitch Mitchell reports.

-- Bill Miller

DNA test clears Texas man after death

DNA evidence has cleared another Texan of a wrongful conviction, but this time justice will be given posthumously.

In 1985, Timothy Brian Cole was arrested and accused of being the infamous "Tech rapist," who terrorized the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock in the mid 1980s.

A year later, the U.S. Army veteran was convicted and given a 25-year prison sentence.

In December 1999, after serving about 13 years, he died after his heart was weakened by an asthmatic condition. He was 39.

Now the Innocence Project of Texas has filed a request for a court of inquiry to officially clear Cole’s name, based on the DNA test results.

"This case shows how the system has broken down and how we need to fix it by creating a process that allows innocent people to get their cases into court," said Jeff Blackburn, of the Innocence Project of Texas. "Looking at paperwork is not enough."

Staff Writer Max Baker reports.

-- Bill Miller

Top Texas jurists support idea of Innocence Commission

Prompted by accusations that people are in prison for crimes they did not commit, Texas' top jurists are supporting a proposal to create a statewide Innocence Commission to investigate wrongful convictions and recommend criminal justice reforms.

Wallace Jefferson, chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, is specifically calling on state lawmakers to find money for the effort.

Critics, however, have said the current system works well, considering that 33 men have been exonerated -- 17 in Dallas County since 2001 by DNA testing.

Among the critics is Gov. Rick Perry, who has said that an Innocence Commission would be another layer of bureaucracy.

But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst likes the idea and his staff is already cleared the way for a Senate interim study committee to look into the commission's charge.

Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick expects the commission to be debated in the legislative session that begins next year.

Read more in this report by Staff Writer Max Baker.

-- Bill Miller

DNA evidence frees another man in Dallas County

The Innocence Project has helped free another Texas prisoner.

Thomas McGowan (right), who spent 23 years imprisoned for a Dallas County rape was released today after DNA tests proved his innocence.

He is among 31 other Texans to have been exonerated by DNA evidence. According to the Innocence Project, 25 of them including McGowan, were convicted based on misidentification.

"Thomas McGown was in his mid-20s when he was arrested, and he'll turn 50 later this year. He has lost nearly his entire adult life to a wrongful conviction that could have -- and should have -- been prevented," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project.

Scheck urged Texas to pursue reforms that would prevent wrongful convictions.

Read more here.

-- Bill Miller

DNA testing frees another man in Dallas

DNA testing has freed another man in Texas.

A Dallas man imprisoned for 27 years for a crime he didn't do had his conviction officially dismissed on Tuesday.

Charles Chatman, 47, is the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing, and he served more time than any of the others, according to a report from The Associated Press.

The AP also reported that Dallas has freed more inmates after DNA testing than any other county nationwide, according to statistics from the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

Driving the Dallas efforts is District Attorney Craig Watkins, right, a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University’s law school and a former intern in the Tarrant County district attorney’s office. His team includes several other top lawyers from Fort Worth, including Terri Moore, a former Tarrant County prosecutor and trial lawyer and Fort Worth criminal defense attorney Mike Ware.

Watkins, a Dallas native, caused a stir when he announced last year that the DA’s office would open courthouse files to the Innocence Project of Texas, which is looking for convictions that, with DNA testing, might be overturned.

Meanwhile, Texas also leads the country in prisoners freed by DNA testing, with at least 30 since 2001, according to the AP.

-- Bill Miller