Citing a rise in wrongful-conviction claims by inmates, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is launching a unit of veteran prosecutors to review the integrity of past convictions, joining a small but growing number of prosecutorial agencies around the country devoting resources to identify innocent prisoners.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey is asking county supervisors for nearly $1 million to fund the new team, which would include three prosecutors, a senior investigator and a paralegal.
In seeking the funds, Lacey’s office Thursday said it wanted to keep up with an increasing number of wrongful-conviction claims that have followed the advent of similar units around the country, a growing number of innocence projects and heightened publicity surrounding innocence claims, county spokesman Dave Sommers said, according to The Times.
Innocence project groups and others hailed the move, saying that it would send a dramatic statement that the office is serious about reversing injustices and could spur the creation of similar units in smaller counties across California.
Although such units are still rare, Los Angeles would join more than 15 district attorney offices around the country that have created such teams, including Dallas County, Brooklyn and Manhattan, N.Y., as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., according to The Times. In California, district attorneys in Santa Clara, Ventura and Yolo counties have established similar units.
—City News Service