Exonerations of U.S. criminals hit record in 2014: study
(Reuters) – The number of U.S. criminals exonerated in 2014 climbed to a record high of 125, in part because of efforts by prosecutors willing to admit their offices made mistakes, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The states with the most exonerations last year were Texas, New York and Illinois, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the University of Michigan Law School.
Full report from the National Registry of Exonerations.
http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Exonerations_in_2014_report.pdf
Article from Reuters News service.
More from US News on this topic.
Judge blasts crime lab, postpones ‘cold case’ homicide trial
comment: Here is a DA going to a murder trial without completing evidence analysis and discovery. The judge puts on the brakes as a result. There must be some story behind the DA’s hurry-up and ignore the rules strategy. Probably maneuvering for a plea.
PORTAGE, WI — With stern words about the practices of the Wisconsin Crime Lab, Columbia County Circuit Court Judge Alan White on Monday delayed the trial of a 39-year-old Beaver Dam woman accused of killing her boyfriend nearly 14 years ago.
For example, fingerprint evidence in several cases, including the Waldhart case, had been held for review by the crime lab to assess the performance of a particular investigator, she said.
Also, Kohlwey said, the crime lab has not completed analysis of some DNA evidence related to the case.
[Judge] ……said he had read several recent national news stories about convicted defendants — some of whom had served decades in prison — who were exonerated based on evidence such as DNA that had turned up years after the trial.
“We can’t proceed in cases if we don’t have all the evidence,” he said.
Fears for forensic quality in England and Wales
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 