Seek to Clear Wrongfully Convicted Prisoners
Dec. 15, 2000
By Randy Dotinga
SAN DIEGO (APBnews.com) -- When they launched the nation's first exhaustive search for prisoners who could be exonerated by DNA, San Diego prosecutors expected to find plenty of old cases worthy of a second look.
But six months later, after examining dozens of cases, prosecutors say there just aren't that many prisoners who qualify to have their cases re-examined. In some cases, there is no DNA to test, but in many others the prisoners never claimed innocence in the first place.
"I'm surprised there aren't more people saying 'I didn't do it,'" said San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Lisa Weinreb, one of two prosecutors working on the DNA project. Of 120 cases examined so far, only two seem likely to result in new DNA tests.
'Why do we have to sit around?'
The San Diego project was inspired by a county prosecutor who questioned his department's dedication to using DNA to exonerate criminals in old cases, Weinreb said.
"Why do we have to sit around and wait for the defense to come to us?" he asked.
Prosecutors did not have a good answer, and the DNA project was born. Last summer, the district attorney's office began the laborious chore of re-examining the cases of 560 men and women behind bars who were prosecuted by the county before 1992.
Prosecutors chose 1992 as the starting point because that was when DNA testing began being used routinely in local criminal investigations after that, Weinreb said. Considering that each prisoner has been incarcerated for at least eight years, the cases are invariably violent crimes, including murders and sexual assaults.
Prosecutors are looking at each of the cases, even if the prisoner pleaded guilty.
"You may say this is a big waste of time," Weinreb said, but prosecutors must consider that some innocent defendants may have entered a guilty plea to avoid extra jail time.
Testing claims of innocence
Weinreb said prosecutors examine case files and look for "a continuous chain of claims of innocence."
If a case looks promising, prosecutors will contact the prisoner's defense attorney and ask if a DNA test should be taken. Although it has not happened yet, some prisoners may refuse because the test would prove their guilt or link them to another crime, she said.
All DNA results obtained during the project will be entered into a national law enforcement database.
Two cases seem promising
Since the project began last summer, law clerks have reviewed 302 of the 560 cases. Of those, 275 were homicides and 27 were other crimes.
Prosecutors then reviewed 120 cases that met the criteria for their examination. Just seven of those qualified for "further examination," while 113 were rejected.
In some cases, there may have been DNA at the scene, but it would not have proved that someone did or did not commit the crime, she said.
Two cases appear especially promising, she said. One is a molestation case in which clothing may contain DNA. The second is a rape case with two suspects who each have proclaimed their innocence.
Regardless of whether the San Diego DNA project will free anyone, it has inspired other district attorneys. Weinreb said she has received many calls from prosecutors who want to launch similar programs.
Few wrongfully convicted?
The San Diego County District Attorney's Office has shown an unusual dedication to examining old cases, said Jan Stiglitz, professor of law at the California Western School of Law in San Diego.
Stiglitz is co-director of the California Innocence Project, which provides defense assistance to prisoners who claim they were wrongly convicted. The project is modeled after a similar program in New York that has resulted in the overturning of dozens of cases.
"We certainly appreciate a prosecutor who recognizes the possibility that a wrong may have been done, and there's an easy way to check," he said. "That's so refreshing compared to the way this problem is being handled in other parts of the country where the prosecutors are fighting tooth and nail to prevent defendants from getting access."
Stiglitz said he had mixed feelings about the low number of cases that have been deemed worthy of possible DNA tests.
"On the one hand, you hope the number would be high because you want to free innocent people," he said. "But on the other hand, maybe [the low number] suggests there aren't that many wrongfully convicted people. And that is a good thing."
Randy Dotinga is an APBnews.com West Coast correspondent (randy.dotinga@apbnews.com).
