Oregon state lawmakers may overhaul the state’s legal framework for DNA testing sought to exonerate people after they are convicted of crimes.
The Innocence Project is working on legislation that has the goal of making it easier for people to get DNA testing after a conviction to prove their innocence usually when they're serving life or lengthy sentences for murder and rape.
The legislation also would overcome roadblocks that can prevent DNA evidence from being uploaded into the national database to check for matches.
If passed, the changes could end Oregon’s distinction as one of only 13 states with no convicts who have been exonerated with DNA evidence.
“We always say DNA’s the gold standard of evidence,” said Michelle Feldman, a legislative strategist with the Innocence Project. “DNA can reveal the truth. It’s so important that wrongfully convicted people can access that evidence.”
A DNA exoneration story
Oregon lawmakers on the judiciary panel heard Friday from Gerard Richardson, a New Jersey man who was exonerated with DNA testing after spending nearly 20 years in prison.
"If it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody," Richardson said in an interview with the Statesman Journal.
Richardson’s story began in 1994, after the death of Monica Reyes, a young woman in Elizabeth, N.J., who was brutally murdered. In 1995, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison after authorities prosecuted him based on $90 Reyes owed Richardson for drugs.
The victim had a bit mark on the lower left side of her back, which was swabbed for saliva. In 2013, after the Innocence Project became involved, DNA testing showed it wasn't Richardson and he was exonerated.
"Being locked up for a crime you didn't do and knowing you're not guilty is the hardest thing in the world," he told lawmakers.
In the search for justice for Reyes, bureaucracy prevailed. The private lab that ran the tests wasn’t recognized by New Jersey authorities, who needed to sign off on uploading the DNA information into the national database and search for a match.
“We had two DNA profiles that could have revealed who actually killed Monica, but because the bureaucracy we couldn’t get it uploaded,” Feldman said.
The FBI visits private labs, but requires state officials to do an approval process before uploading DNA profiles into the national database, which entails obtaining their FBI report. Two male DNA profiles from the swab that exonerated Richardson cannot be tested against the nation’s database, which is run by the FBI.
Bipartisan support may be possible
The Innocence Project wants legislation that would allow a judge to order DNA information from a private lab to be uploaded into the national database.
The group also wants to make it easier for convicted people to get a DNA test in Oregon.
Statistics bear out the difficulty in getting tested after conviction. Thirty-one petitions have been filed for post-conviction DNA testing in Oregon, Feldman said. Just one was granted.
In Richardson's case, he wouldn't have been able to get DNA testing if he were in Oregon because the law is so restrictive, Feldman said.
“Gerard would still be in prison if he were in Oregon,” Feldman said.
The proposal has support from Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and Rep. Carla Piluso, D-Gresham.
"Right now, Oregon has a Catch-22 process in place for people that are seeking to get the DNA evidence retested where they have to almost prove they're innocent before they can prove they're innocent," Thatcher said. "We don't want people in Oregon to have to serve time for something they didn't do."
Members of Oregon's law enforcement community didn't weigh in Friday on the proposal's merit.
Tim Colahan, executive director of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, said in an email that the association and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office are continuing to work with representatives from the Oregon Innocence Project and state lawmakers on the proposal's language.
Members of Oregon's law enforcement community didn't weigh in Friday on the proposal's merit.
A spokesman for Oregon State Police, which runs the state forensics lab, declined to comment, saying they haven't reviewed the language yet.
In Richardson's case, the work that policymakers do won't change the lost years, when he missed seeing his children grow up. Now 53 years old, he speaks to attorney groups, legislators and others in the criminal justice community about the need for reforms.
"It doesn't help me, but it helps everybody that comes behind me," he said.
Contact reporter Ben Botkin at bbotkin@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6687 or follow him on Twitter @BenBotkin1
