CHARLESTON — The House of Delegates has passed a bill that would give wrongfully convicted people a pathway to get back into state court based on discredited forensic evidence.
House Bill 2888, which is sponsored by Delegate Joshua Higginbotham (R-Putnam), now heads to the state Senate. It was passed March 16 by the House on a 99-0 vote after unanimously passing the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
“With scientific advancements made every day, it’s critical that our justice system keep up,” Higginbotham said. “When bad or outdated science convicts an innocent person, that means the true perpetrator is still out in the community.
“HB 2888 is important for West Virginia because it will improve our courts, enhance public safety, help convict the guilty and protect the innocent with the power of science.”
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 45 percent of DNA-based wrongful convictions and nearly a quarter of all (DNA and non-DNA) wrongful convictions stem from false or misleading forensic evidence nationally. This can include forensic analysis or testimony that was false, inaccurate, or may have been generally accepted at the time but was later debunked by scientific advancements.
In West Virginia, 90 percent of all exonerations have involved flawed or misleading forensics; those innocent men spent more than 100 combined years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.
Six states have enacted “discredited forensics” laws, including Texas and Wyoming. In those states, when a judge is considering whether a convicted person should be able to get back into state court based on “new evidence” of his or her innocence, the new evidence may include scientific advancements, new guidelines or expert repudiation.
Additionally, several state high courts already have recognized that new evidence may include discredited forensics.
“West Virginia has long appreciated the power of forensic evidence in the courtroom, and this legislation continues that work by ensuring that science can also be used to exonerate,” said Melissa Giggenbach, program director of the West Virginia Innocence Project. “We are so grateful to Delegate Higginbotham for his incredible work on behalf of the innocent.”
Higginbotham said scientific testimony that was generally accepted at the time of conviction has since been undermined by new scientific advancements in disciplines. In recent years, the National Academy of Science has detailed major flaws in bite marks, arson, hair comparisons and other types of forensic evidence used to convict people.
He said that while forensic science can help correctly identify perpetrators of crimes, if not properly overseen and updated according to the latest standards, it also can implicate an innocent person.
“Without a law like HB 2888, innocent people have to contort their cases into constitutional claims like ineffective assistance of counsel, when what they really want a judge to consider is bad science,” said Laurie Roberts, a state policy advocate for the Innocence Project. “HB 2888 will help the judicial system run smoother while ensuring wrongfully convicted people have a mechanism to get back into court to prove their innocence.”
