Jun 06 2008
Prosecutors in Wrongful Conviction Cases Speak Out
In today’s edition of Texas Lawyer, John Council has an interesting article about the Dallas County prosecutors whose cases were later called into question by DNA testing that indicated the defendant’s innocence. He writes:
until now, the current and former prosecutors responsible for sending 17 men to prison for years — a total of 282 years to be exact — have rarely been heard from. So Texas Lawyer filed an open-records request with the Dallas County DA’s office to receive the names of all 29 prosecutors who tried and helped convict the 17 men.
The list received from the DA’s office on May 27 includes an impressive roster of attorneys who have gone on to become some of the state’s top prosecutors, criminal-defense lawyers and state district judges. The list even includes Jane Boyle, a former Dallas County prosecutor who now is a U.S. district judge, and Andy Beach, currently one of Watkins’ chief lieutenants. Texas Lawyer called every lawyer on the list — one could not be located and one is deceased — to ask them about the men they prosecuted between 1981 and 2000 who have now been set free from prison. The DA’s office declined to release information about one of the 17 men because his record is expunged, and the trial records of another exonerated man’s case — including the names of the prosecutors — were unavailable, according to Christine Womble, the assistant DA who processed the open-records request.
Some of the lawyers don’t remember details of the cases they tried years ago. But others remember them like the cases happened yesterday. One was even driven to tears when recalling the trial of a man she helped send to prison for 15 years who has since been pardoned…
To read the prosecutors’ comments and details regarding each of the Dallas County exonerations, click here.
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