On September 25th, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 980, sponsored by the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University, which will improve the process for wrongfully convicted prisoners to obtain DNA testing.
The bill, authored by Sen. Ted Lieu, gives prisoners improved access to the physical and biological evidence preserved in their cases and clarifies the procedures for obtaining DNA testing in California. SB 980 was co-sponsored by NCIP, the California Innocence Project, The Project for the Innocent at Loyola Law School, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Governor Brown also signed NCIP-sponsored Senate Bill 1058 into law on September 26th.
California Senate Bill 1058 will help exonerate innocent men and women who have been wrongfully convicted based on outdated expert testimony. It will help assure people wrongfully convicted based on such testimony can have their conviction overturned when the expert later admits he or she was wrong, or when new science proves the testimony wrong.
