MY WORD

Last week, Rudolph Holton, an innocent Florida death-row inmate, was released from prison, making him the 25th death-row inmate released in Florida since 1972. Evidence, including a DNA test, showed that Holton did not commit the brutal murder of Katrina Graddy, and implicated another as the murderer. Rudolph Holton spent 16 years in prison awaiting execution for a crime in which he had no part, while the real perpetrator was free to commit other crimes.

Florida leads the nation in the number of death-row inmates who have been wrongfully convicted and subsequently exonerated. But the problem of wrongful convictions is not confined to Florida's borders. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1972, 103 innocent people have been released from death row in the United States, leading concerned individuals to wonder how many others have been wrongfully convicted but still remain behind bars.

And just as important, how many criminals remain at large, jeopardizing public safety, because a jury convicted the wrong guy?

Fortunately, legislation will come before Congress that, if passed, would help to free the innocent and avoid future injustices.

The Innocence Protection Act would establishe procedures to preserve biological evidence and give prisoners access to post-conviction DNA testing and relief based on favorable DNA tests. DNA evidence has cleared 123 people of crimes since it was first used in the United States in the early 1980s, and in more than 20 of these cases, DNA testing led to discovery of the true perpetrator.

The Innocence Protection Act also would take steps to prevent wrongful convictions in the future by encouraging states to provide competent defense counsel in death-penalty cases. Too frequently, we have heard stories of the defense lawyer who does nothing to investigate the case and is unprepared at trial, or who ignores obvious factual or legal issues, or who sleeps through trial. To prevent such travesties, the Innocence Protection Act would provide financial incentives for states to ensure that the death penalty is not a punishment for having an incompetent lawyer.

When Holton was released, the state gave him $100 for the 16 years of his life that he spent wrongfully incarcerated. A final provision of the Innocence Protection Act would ensure that states compensate those who are wrongfully convicted.

Last year, more than 280 members of Congress, from both parties and both sides of the death-penalty debate, signed on as co-sponsors of the Innocence Protection Act. Orlando-area Reps. Ric Keller and Tom Feeney ought to show their commitment to a fair criminal-justice system by supporting the Innocence Protection Act.

Lawrence Goldman is a criminal-defense lawyer in New York City and president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Cheney Mason is a criminal-defense lawyer in Orlando and a National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers board member.