Copyright 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society
The Christian Science Monitor
February 17, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: FEATURES; IDEAS; Pg. 13
LENGTH: 646 words
HEADLINE:
When DNA releases the innocent from behind bars
BYLINE:
Daphne Eviatar
DATELINE: NEW YORK
BODY: Barry Scheck is not the first
person to go to law school inspired by a television show. But he is one of few
whose legal careers bear any resemblance to the fantasy.
Motivated by the 1960s courtroom drama, "The Defenders," Mr. Scheck, best
known for defending O.J. Simpson, has transformed the minutiae of forensic
science into a dynamic vocation.
Despite the lawyerly pin-striped
suit, Scheck says he is drawn to the dramatic. He's working with his legal
partner, Peter Neufeld, on a new book a riveting yet disturbing tragedy.
"Actual Innocence" (Doubleday), written with Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Jim Dwyer, unfolds the true stories of 12 men convicted
of brutal crimes they did not commit. In each case, DNA evidence, in the hands
of the Innocence Project - the law clinic Scheck and Neufeld run at the Benjamin
Cardozo School of Law in New York - proves their innocence.
The
ability to test DNA has come to be considered manna from heaven for the innocent
prisoner. "It's the single greatest investigative tool since the discovery of
fingerprints," Scheck says. In the late '80s, forensic scientists discovered
deoxyribonucleic acid could be extracted from cells and compared to that found
at a crime scene. If the DNA "matches," it is overwhelming evidence of guilt.
Scheck and Neufeld realized early on that it is also powerful proof of
innocence. DNA has helped them exonerate 37 clients since they began the project
in 1992.
Since the advent of DNA testing, 64 convicted prisoners
have been exonerated in the United States alone. Of the 62 analyzed for "Actual
Innocence," eight were on death row.
The Innocence Project only
takes cases where DNA evidence exists, and identification of the perpetrator is
the key issue. But the authors aim to demonstrate more than the miracles of DNA.
"The message of our book isn't that DNA can prove people innocent," Scheck says.
"The book asks, Why did all these people get convicted in the first place?"
Each chapter reveals how an unscrupulous prosecutor or police
officer, unreliable eyewitness, incompetent defense lawyer, coerced confession,
faulty forensic science, or some other justice-system foible led to the loss of
years of an innocent man's freedom. Each chapter closes with a list of reforms
that could prevent further false convictions.
In most cases,
however, there is no DNA evidence, or the physical remains have been destroyed.
And in many states, courts won't even consider new evidence more than six months
after conviction. Only New York and Illinois allow inmates to have their DNA
tested any time after conviction, without cost.
Scheck and
Neufeld may seem an unlikely pair to be plying the cause for DNA testing, given
that their attack on such evidence nearly six years ago was what helped free
O.J. Simpson. But Scheck insists there is no contradiction. "There's a right way
to do things and a wrong way."
In the Simpson case, he and
Neufeld maintained that the police had done pretty much everything the "wrong
way," contaminating the evidence in the process. Nationally recognized as DNA
experts since then, Scheck and Neufeld have been on a crusade to regulate crime
labs and train police officers to properly handle biological evidence.
With "Actual Innocence," they are also striving for a host of
other
criminal justice reforms, from increased funding for
criminal defense lawyers to establishing a national blue-ribbon commission to
determine what went wrong every time a convicted person is proven innocent.
"If an airplane falls from the sky, or a car blows up, or a
patient dies and it can't be explained, there's a big postmortem," Scheck says.
"The only system that doesn't do that is the criminal justice system."
(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society
LOAD-DATE: February 16, 2000