Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit Defense Blog : Wrongful Conviction Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Andrew M. Hale Law Firm

Both Newsweek and The New York Daily News have reviewed Discovery Channel's new show on DNA and wrongful convictions. The show is about the Dallas County DA's and the newly elected DA Watkins. The office and its newly created CIU (Conviction Integrity Unit) investigates cases in which prisoners claim to have been wrongfully convicted.

In the first episode, one convict was freed after he was exonerated by DNA evidence. The other was confirmed gulilty through DNA evidence.

Newsweek says:

Dallas DNA" is compelling viewing, but not easy viewing. Like the best scripted crime dramas, it demonstrates that when it comes to crime and punishment, even the happiest endings are marbled with sadness and despair.

The New York Daily News said:

Dallas DNA" tells an important and sobering story about our justice system, and how one office is patching up a bad crack. As television, it's a curious paradox, at some points leaving big questions unasked and at other points padding footage that essentially marks time while we wait for a resolution. But by the standards of shows in this genre, "Dallas DNA" is the rare real deal."

 

The show recently had its season finale, but will be playing a marathon of all six episodes on 4pm to 10pm on Tuesday, June 23.

Dallas DNA is only the beginning. What happens after someone is "exonerated" ? Does that mean the police committed misconduct? Could it just be eyewitness error? Could the individual have been an accomplice and DNA was only left at the scene by another person?  These are all questions that must be asked.  YOU must ask them.  Do not let every "exoneration" become an automatic case of police misconduct.  

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Discovery Channel to air new six-part series DALLAS DNA, which premieres Tuesday, April 28 at 10 PM ET.  According to their website:

Dallas DNA chronicles a pioneering unit within the Dallas County District Attorney's office where post-conviction DNA testing is being used to clear the innocent, as well as confirm the guilty. When Craig Watkins ran for district attorney in Dallas County, he promised to fight for justice and through an innovative and unconventional new division he founded; he's been true to his word. In July 2007, Watkins created the nation's first Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) run by a DA's office and tasked it with re-examining hundreds of petitions submitted by inmates seeking post-conviction DNA testing and reinvestigating the cases that could be possible examples of injustice. Dallas County has more exonerations than any other jurisdiction in the nation since state law began allowing post-conviction testing in 2001. In that time, more than 40 cases have received post-conviction DNA evidence analysis and the results have stunned the nation—to date, 19 cases were found to have wrongful convictions, and under DA Watkins' leadership ten innocent men have walked free.

 Here is the full schedule.

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