Cole Commission releases findings on wrongful convictions
by MARTIN BARTLETT / KVUE News
Posted on August 25, 2010 at 5:13 PM
AUSTIN -- A state commission Wednesday released long-awaited recommendations on how to reduce the number of defendants wrongly convicted in Texas, but come January it will be up to the Texas legislature to decide whether those recommendations become reality.
In 2009, the state created the Timothy Cole Commission to study Texas' criminal justice system.
"People who have been waiting in prison cells are tired too, and we ought not give up on them or on our criminal justice system,” said State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who will champion the findings on the Senate side in the 82nd Legislative Session.
The commission recommends improving standards for eyewitness identification, requiring law enforcement to record interrogations, giving those convicted more chances to appeal, and funding commissions to uncover errant convictions.
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