INNOCENCE PANEL NEEDED IN TEXAS

AUSTIN - Recent events that led to the prison release of 12 people from the
Texas Panhandle town of Tulia illustrate why the state needs an innocence
commission. The commission would review cases where people are wrongly
convicted of crimes.

Defendants in Tulia were imprisoned based on the testimony of an Anglo
undercover agent who has since been discredited in this racially charged
case. Questions surrounding the case spurred investigations by state
lawmakers, the U.S. Justice Department and Texas Attorney General's office.

It all started in July 1999 when 46 people - 39 of them black - were
arrested and accused of cocaine possession. An undercover agent claimed
that he bought drugs from the defendants. But the agent worked alone and
used no audio or video surveillance. No drugs or money were found during
the arrests.

Thirty-eight defendants were convicted or accepted plea bargains, fearing
they would receive long prison sentences. A trial court recently found that
the undercover agent was not credible and withheld evidence from the defense.

The Tulia case prompted the Legislature to pass a bill allowing the
defendants to be released from prison on bond as they await a decision by
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But the Legislature failed to pass a
key piece of legislation that could help prevent such incidents in the future.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has been pushing for lawmakers to
establish the nine-member Texas Innocence Commission, which would review
cases in which people are wrongly convicted.

Opponents of the commission say the courts already have procedures to
prevent wrongful convictions. But the increasing number of people being
convicted and then exonerated shows that those procedures aren't working.
Others have confused the innocence commission with efforts to ban or weaken
the death penalty.

The commission would not be a moratorium on the death penalty. It's not
even a study of the death penalty. Such a commission would do nothing to
weaken the death penalty in Texas.

An innocence commission would review cases where people have been
exonerated after being wrongly accused and convicted. It would answer the
fundamental question: ''What went wrong?''

North Carolina and Arizona have similar laws, and Connecticut, New York and
California are considering such legislation.

Former FBI Director William Sessions, who is also a former federal judge,
is among those who support Texas establishing an innocence commission.
That's because Texas and other states are seeing more and more cases where
defendants spend years in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

Through DNA and other evidence, an increasing number of convicted inmates
are being set free from prison. An innocence commission could bring about
changes that reduce the chances of convicting the innocent and increase the
chances of convicting the guilty.

''How many other Tulias are out there in Texas that we don't know about?''
Ellis asked at a recent news conference.

An innocence commission could have provided answers to this question and others.