Article Title: Utah's Dna Actual Innocence Bill
| Jurisdiction | Utah,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 2001 No. 12 Pg. 12-9 |
| Pages | 12-9 |
| Publication year | 2001 |
12-9 (2001). Article Title: Utah's DNA Actual Innocence Bill
December, 2001
Article Title: Utah's DNA Actual Innocence Bill
Author: C. C. Horton II
Article Type
Articles
Article
This year, the Utah Legislature quietly passed SB 172
"Postconviction DNA Testing," sponsored by Senator
Lyle Hillyard. It was a major piece of legislation, and
created a mechanism for people wrongfully convicted of
felonies to seek exoneration through DNA technology. In this
article I will discuss the background of how the bill came
into existence and explain the key features of the new law
In early 2000, Professor Lionel Frankel of the University of
Utah College of Law set up a meeting with the Attorney
General's Office to discuss the formation of a new
project called the "Rocky Mountain Innocence
Project," which had recently been organized for the
purpose of reviewing cases of prison inmates who assert their
innocence. The project's goal was to seek ways to
exonerate the innocent through DNA analysis of evidence
collected at the time of the crime that was still available
for testing.
When we met with Professor Frankel and other founding members
of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Project, we told them we
would be glad to support what they were trying to accomplish,
since we had a mutual interest in insuring that anyone who
had been wrongly convicted be exonerated. After that meeting,
we took the issue to the Statewide Association of Public
Attorneys, recommending that the DNA actual innocence issue
be studied and that legislation be proposed to assist in the
effort.(fn1)
Over the summer, we studied other states' laws and
legislative proposals. What we wanted to achieve was a
balanced approach that would give the truly innocent every
opportunity to be exonerated, while not creating a mechanism
which would be abused by the guilty. We noticed that some
states limit post-conviction DNA testing to certain
categories of felons, such as death row inmates, or inmates
in general. We decided that a broader approach was better,
allowing all convicted felons to seek relief. While casting a
wide net as to who could petition for DNA testing, we also
incorporated into the bill certain disincentives for the
guilty who might seek to abuse the process.
After several re-writes, we had a bill which we felt struck
the right balance, and we forwarded a copy to Professor...
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