Sunday, February 14, 2010

Key Senator Expresses Support for Formation of Important Innocence Commission

From the blog Plain Error :


Key Senator Expresses Support for Formation of Important Innocence Commission


Key Senator Expresses Support for Formation of Important Innocence Commission

Senator Mike Haridopolos Sends Letter to Florida Supreme Court Pledging Legislative Assistance

Tallahassee, Florida —The Petitioners seeking the establishment of an Innocence Commission in Florida have received several signifiant indications of support in recent days. On February 3, 2010, Senator Mike Haridopolos (R-Brevard County), President designate of the Senate, sent a letter to Chief Justice Peggy Quince expressing support for the formation of an actual innocence commission in Florida that will study the known cases of innocents being wrongfully convicted and incarcerated and use the results of this study to update practices to prevent wrongful convictions in the future. Senator Haridopolos pledged, “I am confident the Florida Legislature will do all it can to assist in the creation of an Innocence Commission.”

Sen. Haridopolos’ letter follows the action by the Florida Bar Board of Governors adopting a resolution of support by unanimous vote at its last meeting. Additionally, the Petition has been joined by additional lawyers, including former Attorney General Janet Reno. In a supplemental petition, the Petitioners also brought to the attention of the court the resolution adopted by the national Conference of Chief Justices in 2005 that speaks in support of efforts such as those proposed by the petition.

For more information on the effort to create an Actual Innocence Commission in Florida please see the following:

The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and freeing innocent people in Florida prisons.

Related posts:

  1. The Florida Actual Innocence Commission This sounds like something every state should have but most states, including Florida, do absolutely nothing to study the cases...
  2. FL Supreme Court Stays Execution of Paul Beasley Johnson Johnson was convicted for the 1981 murders of three individuals including a Lakeland deputy. Governor Crist recently signed Johnson’s death...
  3. Illinois Supreme Court Decides Important Confession Case Bearing in mind that coerced confessions are one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions, I thought a recent case...
  4. IPF Signs Onto Amicus Curiae Brief in Important U.S. Supreme Court Case Last night, an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief was filed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers...
  5. Great opinion piece on obtaining post-conviction DNA testing I ran across this wonderful opinion piece on the Criminal Justice blog. It says everything that needs to be said...
  6. Innocence Project of Florida Asks State Attorney to Test DNA in Case of Wayne Tompkins Innocence Project of Florida Asks State Attorney to Test DNA in Case of Wayne Tompkins Serious Doubts Remain About the...

No comments: