SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 22, 2009. The Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) at Santa Clara University School of Law and the California Innocence Project (CIP) at California Western School of Law will receive $2.4 million to administer a massive DNA testing program titled the Post-conviction DNA Testing Assistance Program.
The Post-conviction DNA Testing Assistance Program is designed to give indigent California inmates an opportunity to pursue a claim of innocence. Specifically, funding that will be used to review eligible post-conviction cases of forcible rape, murder, and non-negligent manslaughter, and to locate and analyze biological evidence samples associated with these cases. California’s post-conviction DNA testing law is set forth in Penal Code § 1405.
The funding for this program comes from the National Institute of Justice, a part of the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing grant program, included in the 2004 Justice for All Act sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Bloodsworth grant was intended to allow states to conduct DNA tests in cases in which someone has already been convicted, but key DNA evidence was not tested. The grant funds were awarded competitively to the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), which serves as the State Administrative Agency for the distribution of the funds and programmatic oversight of the NCIP and CIP.
Funding comes nearly nine years after California inmates were granted the legal right to seek post-conviction DNA testing of evidence. But that is a right many have not been able to exercise because of the urgency of the state’s fiscal crisis, a strained judicial system and the large number of incarcerated claiming innocence.
The program will help solve this problem. Four lawyers will be dedicated to identifying inmates from among the 33 adult prisons statewide who appear most likely to be exonerated by DNA testing. It will also help pay for the thousands of hours that must be devoted to examining case files, searching for testable evidence scattered throughout the state, and for DNA testing and analysis of DNA test results.
In the cases where DNA results indicate the inmate could not have committed the crime, the innocence projects will pursue fair resolution of the case with the court system and District Attorney’s office.
"This is a major development for innocent inmates," said Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi, executive director of NCIP. "This will be the broadest and largest undertaking in any state in the nation and has the potential to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and, with DNA analysis, possibly identify the actual perpetrators."
"The reality is that indigent California prisoners with wrongful conviction claims have virtually no access to the resources needed to obtain the benefits of DNA testing laws," said Justin Brooks, CIP project director. "For most, their appeals are over; they no longer have lawyers or a support network to rely on. This program will provide new hope for the innocent."
For 18 months the NCIP and CIP will jointly operate the Post-conviction DNA Testing Assistance Program from their respective offices at Santa Clara University and California Western University, along with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, under the terms of a Cooperative Agreement supervised by the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA).
"This is a partnership we’re really looking forward to," said Elizabeth Siggins, Acting Chief Deputy Secretary for Adult programs at the Department of Corrections. "We’re pleased that more inmates with claims of innocence will be able to garner the benefits of California’s DNA testing laws."
It is exactly this kind of DNA testing that ultimately exonerated Kirk Bloodsworth of a 1985 murder conviction in Maryland. Bloodsworth was a young man recently discharged from the Marines when he was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. In 1993, post-conviction DNA testing yielded conclusive biological evidence that prompted Maryland authorities to join with Bloodsworth in his successful petition for a governor’s pardon. Added to state and federal databases, that same DNA profile that exonerated Bloodsworth later identified the girl’s real killer.
"I am pleased that the Justice Department is allocating the funds appropriated by Congress for this worthwhile program," said Sen. Leahy. "Our justice system will benefit from use of this grant to organizations like the Northern California Innocence Project and the California Innocence Project, and their work demonstrates why Congress must reauthorize and continue to support this important program."
About the Northern California Innocence Project
The Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) is a pro bono legal clinic at Santa Clara University School of Law. At the Project, law students work with supervising and pro bono attorneys to exonerate innocent prisoners and pursue legal reforms that address the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions. Since its inception in 2001, the Northern California Innocence Project has proved the innocence of eight wrongly convicted people – combined these eight exonerees served more than 70 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. For more information, see law.scu.edu/ncip.
ABOUT SANTA CLARA LAW
Santa Clara University School of Law, founded in 1911 on the site of California’s oldest operating higher-education institution, is dedicated to educating lawyers who lead with a commitment to excellence, ethics, and social justice. One of the nation’s most diverse law schools, Santa Clara Law offers its 975 students an academically rigorous program, including graduate degrees in international law and intellectual property law; combined J.D./MBA and J.D./MSIS degrees; and certificates in intellectual property law, international law, and public interest and social justice law. Santa Clara Law is located in the world-class business center of Silicon Valley, and is distinguished nationally for our top-ranked program in intellectual property. For more information, see law.scu.edu.
