A bill being considered by state lawmakers this spring would make it easier for people who are wrongly convicted of crimes to bring challenges in their cases.
The bill, which passed in the Assembly this week, would give people who are appealing their cases greater access to free legal assistance. It would also allow people to challenge their convictions when there is credible new evidence in their case – even if the evidence is not DNA. Finally, it would also bolster people’s rights to know the evidence prosecutors have against them.
The state Senate has not yet voted on a similar bill.
Amanda Wallwin, State Policy Advocate for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that works to free the innocent and prevent wrongful convictions, said the bill would help ensure that innocent people don’t wind up stuck in prison.
“The laws that we have in place prioritize finality over accuracy, so even if you have evidence that the court got it wrong, it doesn't matter,” said Wallwin. “This bill strikes at the heart of what our court system is supposed to do.”
A lawyer for a man whose murder conviction was overturned this week after he spent 26 years in prison said his client would have been helped if the proposed law had been in effect.
Michael Robinson represented himself for years while he was fighting his conviction from prison. Under the new law, he would have had the right to an appellate attorney from the moment he was placed behind bars. That could have helped his case, his lawyer said.
“Once a person's direct appeal is over, they’re not entitled to counsel,” said Robinson’s appellate lawyer, Harold Ferguson of the Legal Aid Society. “So, a lot of times it's defendants who are doing this on their own.”
In 1993 Michael Robinson was convicted by a Queens jury of killing his ex-wife Gwendolyn Samuels at a home where Samuels worked as a home health aide.
After his conviction, Robinson continued to maintain his innocence from prison, making multiple motions to appeal, and even paying his own money to take a lie-detector test, which he passed. But the motions were denied.
In 2013, Robinson, acting as his own counsel, requested DNA testing of two blood samples recovered from the crime scene and blood stains found on Gwendolyn Samuels’ sweater. The request was denied at first, but then attorneys for the Legal Aid Society got involved and convinced the Appellate Division that the ruling was wrong, and that DNA testing should be included.
Right now in New York, defendants do not have a right to an attorney after their direct appeal. Wallwin said that New York is one of just five states in the U.S. where that is the case.
