California Criminal Lawyer Blog

EFFORT TO REDUCE FALSE CONVICTIONS BLOCKED
By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News

Article Launched:10/18/2007 01:34:13 AM PDT

Former California Attorney General John Van de Kamp blasted law
enforcement groups and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday for
blocking legislation aimed at protecting defendants from convictions
for crimes they did not commit.

"I'm embarrassed for the law enforcement community," Van de Kamp said
before convening a public hearing on criminal justice reforms at
Santa Clara University.

Speakers included Rick Walker of East Palo Alto, who spent 12 years
in prison for a murder he didn't do. Walker, who recently obtained a
$2.75 million settlement in a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against
Santa Clara County, said he is starting a non-profit group to help
exonerated prisoners rebuild their lives.

"When I make a mistake, I pay for it," he said. "When the state of
California made a mistake, they made my attorney jump through hoops
to get compensation."

Earlier this year, a commission chaired by Van de Kamp sponsored
three bills that would have set tighter rules for police and
prosecutors by requiring corroboration of testimony by jailhouse
informants, electronic recording of police interrogations in violent
crimes and the creation of new guidelines for lineups and photo arrays.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice,
created by the Legislature to propose legal reforms, is made up of
judges, police, defense attorneys and prosecutors. But the
legislation was opposed by statewide groups representing police and
district attorneys.

The governor vetoed all three measures last weekend, saying they were
too broad and would unnecessarily tie the hands of investigators and
prosecutors.

"This bill would enact a broad solution to a perceived problem that
arises in very few criminal cases," Schwarzenegger said in a
statement rejecting the bill requiring corroborating evidence to back
up testimony by jailhouse informants.

Scott Thorpe, a spokesman for the state district attorney's
association, said the bill was unnecessary because juries are already
given instructions on how to evaluate such testimony.

But supporters of the measure, including the ACLU and state Senate
Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, cited numerous cases of
defendants wrongly convicted after inmates gave false testimony in
exchange for lenient treatment in their own cases.

Van de Kamp, a Democrat and former Los Angeles County district
attorney, said he was especially disappointed because the commission
had modified its proposals to meet law enforcement concerns.

Panelist and retired Santa Clara County district attorney George
Kennedy agreed.

"I think it's good that he gives great weight to the views of law
enforcement," Kennedy said of the governor. "But these bills were
good bills and they were very reasonable."

Local police are already adopting similar policies, added Kennedy,
who predicted the trend will continue but said it would be better to
have consistent rules statewide.

The commission, which is also studying attorney misconduct, the death
penalty and other subjects, heard testimony Wednesday about legal
obstacles faced by people who are wrongly convicted.

California used to provide funding for groups like the Northern
California Innocence Project, based at Santa Clara University's Law
School, but now such groups rely entirely on private donations.

A single case can cost the Innocence Project hundreds of thousands of
dollars to re-examine evidence and pursue appeals, said project
director Kathleen Ridolfi, a Santa Clara law professor. She said her
staff rejects hundreds of applications for every person they agree to help.

Walker, whose conviction was overturned after a family friend dug up
new evidence and brought it to Kennedy's office, said people who are
wrongly convicted suffer mentally and physically in prison. But
unlike parolees, who receive counseling and other state services, he
said exonerated inmates get virtually no support when released.

"We should at least give them the same services that we afford people
who did something wrong," he said.