Florida Gets Innocence Commission to Study False Convictions
Our South Florida criminal defense attorneys have learned that the Florida Supreme Court will hire a full-time lawyer and create a panel to study how systemic flaws in Florida courts have sentenced innocent people to jail.
The Florida Legislature is funding the commission for one year to the tune of $200,000. The commission will explore issues such as false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, jailhouse informants, and police interrogation.
Since 200, eleven Florida inmates who were wrongly convicted have been freed thanks to DNA testing and the work of the Innocence Project Florida. Another inmate was exonerated after he died of cancer on death row.
Four of those wrongly convicted inmates were from Broward County. Brevard County had two inmates freed.
Source: Why are so many innocent people convicted of crimes? Florida Supreme Court wants to find out, Palm Beach Post, June 14, 2010
Our Broward County criminal defense attorneys can answer your legal questions if you have been falsely accused of a crime such as rape, assault, or DUI.
