Dallas DA says he'll lobby for changes in law
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
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DALLAS -- After seeking the release of two wrongfully convicted men in about two weeks, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he will lobby in Austin for criminal justice changes, including establishment of conviction integrity units across the state.
Watkins talked about the need to double-check the veracity of the system after a court hearing Tuesday in which James Lee Woodard, 55, was set free after serving more than 27 years behind bars for a murder in 1980 that he did not commit.
"This is a perfect time to do it," Watkins said. "We have to look at it. We have to balance that time when we are being a politician, and when we are a human being."
If the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agrees to vacate Woodard's sentence, he would be the 17th inmate to be cleared in Dallas County by DNA evidence since 2001 and the longest-serving inmate in the country to be cleared by additional testing of evidence.
Watkins this month asked for a similar resolution for Thomas McGowan, 49, who served 23 years behind bars for a sexual assault and burglary he did not commit.
Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, which investigated Woodard's case, said other reforms should include a public defender's office, punishment of prosecutors who break the rules and opening the courts to inmates pursuing innocence claims.
"We like to pretend the system in this state works," Blackburn said. "But we've got to stop lying to each other."
Not everyone's Dallas
Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry said he appreciates and admires Watkins' efforts in Dallas County, but doesn't believe prosecutors across the state need conviction integrity units.
"God forbid that we'd be like the Dallas County of the past with its Henry Wade syndrome of conviction at all costs," Curry said, referring to Dallas County's legendary prosecutor. "I think we've got too many laws myself. As far as I'm concerned, we don't need it."
But Huyen Pham, a Texas Wesleyan School of Law professor who specializes in criminal and immigration law, said "to watch someone held in prison for 27 years get exonerated, that is a pretty damning indictment of the system."
"People's trust in the system wanes each time they see this," Pham said. "I think the Legislature has to make this a priority. I think a lot more is at stake than the individual freedom of one or two people."
Watkins started the conviction integrity unit soon after taking office in January 2007 as the first African-American district attorney in Texas. It has a budget of about $412,000 a year and looks into possible instances of wrongful conviction.
He also moved into his offices the Innocence Project of Texas, a consortium of several universities in Texas including Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and the Texas Tech School of Law, to review about 500 cases involving DNA evidence.
That followed other reforms instituted by Watkins, including the use of Tarrant County's open-file policy, which allows defense attorneys to see some of the same evidence that prosecutors see. Before, defense attorneys pried out information at time-consuming examining trials.
Praise and apologies
Before walking out of the courtroom to "breathe in fresh, clean air," Woodard praised Watkins' office for having a public integrity unit that was willing to work with the Innocence Project to prove his innocence.
"I used to have nightmares about the DA's office, but now they are among my best friends," Woodard said in an earlier interview.
Woodard was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of killing Beverly Jones, an 18-year-old woman he had dated. Jones had been sexually assaulted.
A DNA test eventually cleared Woodard, but only after he was told several times that the needed samples couldn't be found.
An investigation also found several other troubling aspects to the case.
For instance, defense attorneys were not told about three other witnesses who saw Jones not long before she died.
Two of those men were convicted sex offenders.
State District Judge Mark Stoltz apologized to Woodard on Tuesday for the past 27 years, but he also praised him for never admitting to the parole board that he was guilty of the crime, an act that might have won his release.
"It says a lot about your character that you were more interested in the truth than your freedom," Stoltz said. "If we can learn anything from your tragic story, your years behind bars will not be in vain."
maxbaker@star-telegram.com
