The Advocate
Richard Blassberg

At Long Last, Reasonableness And Constitutionality In ADA!

Readers of this column know that one subject about which we have repeatedly displayed much passion, and expended considerable effort, is the need for state and federal legislation to combat prosecutorial misconduct, the single greatest contributor to wrongful convictions. And, so it was with great interest and expectation that I
attended the breakfast event at the Harvard Club in Manhattan last Monday morning, Oct. 29th, featuring the District Attorney of Dallas Texas, Craig Watkins. Sponsored by the Drum Major Institute, a progressive think tank, the title of the presentation was “Preventing Wrongful Convictions And Exonerating The Innocent.”

In addition to DA Watkins, there was a panel that included Barry Scheck, Co-Founder of The Innocence Project, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, advocate for reform legislation, and Westchester DA Janet DiFiore. Watkins, a good-looking mountain of a man, soft-spoken, with a gentle, unassuming demeanor, was, from the outset, strikingly different from what we have seen in district attorneys over more than forty years of involvement in criminal justice.

As a former Probation Officer for the County of Westchester, more than four decades ago, Watkins immediately caught my attention when he told the more than one hundred and twenty gathered in the room, that his office had put in place an “Open File Policy” allowing defense attorneys full access. That opening remark was especially meaningful to one who has been monitoring the Westchester Criminal Courts for many years reporting on case after case where exculpatory information, Brady material, has been consistently withheld in order to obtain wrongful convictions. In point of fact, the most frequently voiced objection by criminal defense attorneys in Westchester to the practices of the DA’s Office over the years has been the withholding of information.

Watkins said, “It’s unfortunate that DAs are elected.” He explained that the process tends to encourage the rhetoric, the “Tough On Crime” flawed ideology, that contributes to wrongful convictions and recidivism. He declared, “Just building prisons is not the answer. If you punish someone without rehabilitation you just make the problem worse.” He explained, “Not only do we have innocent individuals who are being convicted, but we have recidivism.”

Declaring “Tough On Crime policy is reactive,” Watkins spoke of the Conviction Integrity Unit that he established to review hundreds of convictions achieved by his predecessors in light of the increasing numbers of wrongful convictions that have been coming to light through DNA comparisons, and enlightened investigatory
techniques in recent years. Having already said that it was unfortunate that DAs are elected, he now suggested that term limits be placed on district attorneys to enhance the possibility of conviction reviews, pointing out that one would be more likely to scrutinize someone else’s wrongful conviction rather than their own.

Watkins, a Democrat, won election to the District Attorney’s Office in Dallas County, Texas, almost two years ago, a feat most thought impossible, given that he was Black, and the office had been controlled by Republicans for several decades.

He attributed his victory to the fact that Dallas had the highest crime rate in the nation, and sending more people to prison was not curing the problem. He told the audience, “I think my role is more than a prosecutor, but an advocate. What we are doing is larger than innocence. I believe we can rehabilitate the vast majority of offenders.” Barry Scheck, whose Innocence Project travels all over the country working to exonerate innocent, incarcerated individuals through the use of DNA technology, and has established branches in Texas, and other states, told the audience, “What is going on here is a phenomenon, nation-wide. These are ‘Smart On Crime’ issues.

We are on the eve of a criminal justice reform that rivals any judicial reform ever.” Watkins reinforced Scheck’s comments declaring, “It’s larger than innocence. What we need are DAs who can think larger than the norm.” State Senator Schneiderman, who, together with Assemblyman Joe Lentol, also present, and seated at my table, have been spearheading the effort in Albany to enact progressive legislation, spoke up about the need for an “Innocence Commission”, an independent body that would review all reasonable claims of wrongful conviction.
Scheck rejoined the discussion, referencing 208 DNA exonerations achieved by the Innocence Project to date, and asking, “The point is, what do we learn from all of this?” Then, noting those critics who have expressed their doubts that the problems of prosecutorial misconduct, poor eye-witnesses, false confessions and the like could be as pervasive as they are, Scheck declared, “DNA has changed everything because it’s such a hard and robust science.”

State Senator Bill Perkins of Manhattan, previously acknowledged by Schneiderman, rose from the audience to observe, “Eric doesn’t think there is much resistance to expansion of the DNA data base.” That comment was followed by a reminder that there are still problems with “rogue DNA labs” by Scheck, who explained
the difficulties created by former Governor Pataki who “rammed through legislation creating private DNA banks for the storage of elimination samples.”

Returning to the central theme of his presentation DA Watkins remarked, “In the majority of cases in which someone was wrongfully convicted there was an element of prosecutorial misconduct.” He went on, “I tell my assistant district attorneys, ‘This may be a bad guy, but we want to be sure that we’ve got the right guy.’ ”

Senator Schneiderman then volunteered, “Perhaps term limits are needed for DAs, because if it was your work, you might not be as willing to review.” Asked whether, in light of so many wrongful convictions, he was for, or against the Death Penalty, Watkins candidly admitted, “That’s hard to answer.” Then he quipped, “If you catch me coming out of court I might be for it. But if you get me coming out of church, I’m against it.”

On the subject of the relationship between his office and the police, an issue of particular interest in Westchester where the District Attorney’s Office has traditionally treated police reports as though they were the Synoptic Gospel, DA Watkins said, “We don’t rubber-stamp the police department. We are there to make sure they do it right. And, if what we get from the police is incomplete, we kick it back to them.”

Craig Watkins, District Attorney of Dallas County Texas has, in the nearly two years he’s been in office, not only instituted many much-needed changes in procedure, but has begun to make significant progress in serious crime reduction and recidivism, as well as uncovering numerous wrongful convictions. It is obvious that, unlike most DAs, neither his ego, nor his political ambition, has interfered with his fundamental belief in, and commitment to, Due Process, and the Constitutional rights of those with whom his office has contact. It is obvious, as well, that what distinguishes him from most other DAs is that he not only talks the talk, but walks the walk.