This spring will be a busy time for NCIP with evidentiary hearings scheduled in two cases, including one for NCIP’s longest held client Jack Sagin, who has been incarcerated for 32 years. Mr. Sagin’s case is of particular significance because it will be the first time a court will have the opportunity to apply California’s new standard for assessing newly discovered evidence to an NCIP case. The newly discovered evidence standard took effect on January 1, 2017, and articulates a more fair standard for demonstrating that new evidence, such as the DNA evidence in Mr. Sagin’s case, requires a reversal of a conviction. NCIP has been prompted to reopen a handful of previously closed cases due to the new standard taking effect.
In addition to cases in which evidentiary hearings have been granted, courts have issued orders to show cause in two other NCIP cases, asking the state to show why the convictions in the cases should not be reversed. NCIP is also drafting petitions for writs for petition of habeas corpus in six more cases and seeking collaborative resolution with the district attorney’s office through a clemency application in another case.
In total, there are currently 11 cases out of NCIP’s active caseload of 45 cases that NCIP is seeking to either resolve or push into litigation throughout the spring and summer.
NCIP has also made progress in its California hair microscopy case review. Prior to the year 2000, the FBI used hair microscopy to compare hairs found at a crime scene to those of a suspect. Analysts then inappropriately represented the significance of any observed similarities, a practice that has since been discredited. The Department of Justice and FBI have admitted that the flaws in the way FBI experts testified regarding hair comparisons and the way the FBI trained state hair examiners, may have resulted in wrongful convictions.
NCIP has undertaken a systematic statewide review of hair microscopy cases looking at closed cases from NCIP’s database, cases identified through appellate record searches, and a variety of other sources. To help with the review, NCIP formed a statewide coalition consisting of California-based innocence projects and law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Members of the California hair microscopy coalition meet at the NCIP office. Photo: Audrey Redmond.
The coalition is now focused on identifying California hair microscopy cases to review beyond the 1,140 California cases NCIP has already reviewed. To identify additional cases, the coalition secured cooperation from the California Association of Crime Lab Directors (CACLD), the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), the California Sheriffs Association (CSSA) and the California Police Chief’s Association (CPCA). In December representatives from CACLD, CDAA, CSSA and CPCA met with NCIP and coalition members at the California State Sherriff’s Association in Sacramento. At the meeting, NCIP provided background of the issues surrounding hair microscopy, and presented preliminary findings from its case review. The coalition and cooperating organizations have continued to meet and work together over the last two months to find ways to best identify California cases involving microscopic hair analysis.
