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NEW YORK (AP) - Marking DNA's stunning revelations for the nation's criminal justice system, new tests led to the release of the 100th person to be freed nationwide because of genetic testing.
The release of Larry Mayes in Indiana last month comes as a timely victory for a nationwide coalition of advocates seeking to free those wrongfully convicted. The advocates plan to gather this weekend to call for reform of the criminal justice system.
Mayes, 52, spent 21 years in prison for a rape of a gas station cashier that he steadfastly maintained he never committed. He was released from Indiana State Prison on Dec. 21 after DNA tests of old crime scene evidence was compared to his own genetic tests.
``This DNA revolution, it's made clear our criminal justice system is not as reliable as we always thought it was,'' said Peter Neufeld, one of the founders of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
``It's very easy for an innocent person to be convicted,'' he said, noting problems with eyewitness testimony, police lineups and state crime labs.
Police, too, welcomed the latest exoneration.
``That's a good thing as well, and not only for law enforcement,'' said Sheriff Aaron Kennard in Salt Lake County, Utah, who worked with a national commission addressing DNA's uses in the criminal justice system. ``We want the bad people behind bars and held accountable, and those innocent to be let go.''
Last week, Kennard was able to pinpoint the rapist in an unsolved 8-year-old case through DNA, as the state goes through and tests evidence of unsolved cases. The rapist is in prison for another sex offense, he said.
Neufeld, a defense attorney who launched the Innocence Project with attorney Barry Scheck, said the first exonerations came slowly, with the first two released in 1989, one in 1990 and two in 1991. But as more judges allowed exceptions to statutes for DNA tests, and some states passed laws to allow for post-conviction testing, the pace picked up.
At the same time, more projects began modeling themselves after the New York-based pro bono project. Now there are at least 25 working nationwide.
Last year, there were 20 prison inmates freed by DNA tests, Neufeld said.
``This whole movement is about ... trying to make the criminal justice system a lot more reliable than it ever was in the past,'' Neufeld said. ``It's really mushroomed into a national civil rights project.''
The advocates are seeking a federal law to guarantee all those with claims of wrongful conviction have access to DNA evidence without time limits; compensation for those wrongfully convicted; widespread reforms of law enforcement procedures; and a moratorium on the death penalty until reforms are made.
In Mayes' case, Neufeld said, the victim had failed to identify him in two separate lineups and only did so after she was hypnotized by police prior to viewing his photograph.
He was able to get tested last year after a new law allowing the tests took effect last summer. Mayes will speak to the advocates when they gather in San Diego
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