The Success of Conviction Integrity Units Exonerating Innocent Inmates Proves Every County Should Have One

Glenn Ford spent 30 years at Angola prison in Louisiana for a crime he did not commit. When asked in 2015 in a 60 Minutes interview if he felt compassion for what Ford had been through, then-acting Caddo Parish District Attorney Dale Cox said, "I'm not in the compassion business."After that, Cox resigned from the DA's office — but not before he helped Caddo retain its notorious crown for sending more people to death row, per capita, than anywhere else in America from 2010 to 2014.At Rodricus Crawford's 2013 trial, Cox persuaded the jurors it was their religious duty to sentence the convicted child killer to death.When I sat down to review State vs. Crawford, the 27-year-old had been waiting three years to die inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Along with Ross Owen, a gifted prosecutor, I read every piece of paper on Crawford — police reports, jury selection, trial testimony and forensic conclusions.All the time we worked, in the back of my mind was the victim's sweet face, his body clad in a diaper on a cold steel autopsy slab. No matter the myriad observations, Roderius Lott would never be older than 1 year.Conviction integrity units should be universalLast year, I wrote about my plans to keep promises to James Woodard, the 17th Dallas man exonerated by DNA, and Glenn Ford, the Louisiana death row inmate exonerated by new information. Woodard died in 2012 after four years of freedom. Ford's post-exonerated life was shorter: He died in June 2015, after one year out. Woodard and Ford never met, but both encouraged me to stay on the path.According to the National Registry of Exonerations, last year there were 29 conviction integrity units in the 2,300 district attorney's offices across America. In 2016, the registry recorded 166 exonerations.The number of exonerations in counties that have invested in conviction integrity units illustrates the need for a CIU in every district attorney's office. These results prove rogue cops and corrupt prosecutors must be rooted out and punished. When people are wrongly convicted, real culprits are allowed to prey longer on victims and communities.This work, and my work, started in Dallas. In 2007, a new Dallas district attorney made a bold move that cemented his legacy. Craig Watkins created a CIU to partner with the Innocence Project of Texas for an unprecedented review of 400 cases.As a nonlawyer on the board of directors for the Innocence Project of Texas, I had a rare front-row seat. Conversations with Watkins, Michael Ware, head of the Dallas CIU, and most especially, with Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project, afforded me lessons on cooperation, procedure, investigating, legislation and installing policies to avoid tainted convictions.Dallas boasts the first conviction integrity unit in America. It makes sense, given the revolving door of DNA and non-DNA exonerations from 2001 to 2014. Legal historians believe what happened here paved the way for future units to find an easier road to development and longevity.Dallas not only put the wrongful-conviction conversation on the map, it worked hard to stay relevant. In the absence of prosecutors like Watkins and Ware, the CIU was not nurtured by DA Susan Hawk. Fortunately, the unit was not dismantled.When I introduced myself to the new district attorney in Caddo Parish, we spoke about Dallas. Mere weeks after taking his 2016 oath, Judge James E. Stewart was kind enough to listen. He impressed me most when he firmly stated he intended to ensure the integrity of all convictions.At the same time, Stewart must have recognized a hometown girl's desire to use her Dallas experience for reviewing old convictions.An infant with pneumoniaOn Feb. 16, 2012, Rodricus Crawford woke to discover his infant son, Roderius Lott, not breathing. Chaos ensued. Several family members attempted CPR to revive the baby. His mother, Lakendra Lott, lived just down the street. Her family was startled out into semi-darkness trying to fathom what happened to a scrappy baby who always seemed to have a little cold.Crawford and Lott were not boyfriend and girlfriend. They had grown up together and were doing the best they could to raise the child with support from both families. Once it set in that Roderius wasn't being rushed to anywhere that ambulances drove the living, a combination of guilt and grief probably filled their thoughts. It was the first time the baby had been allowed to spend the night with Crawford.The child had suspicious bruises. Questions flew with the sunrise. Before a cause of death was issued, a rush to judgment evolved. Officials convinced themselves a young father had deliberately smothered his sleeping baby. The scratches, bruises, and a busted lip were used to support the accusation of "chronic abuse."Pneumonia in the baby's system was not enough to stop authorities from charging Crawford one week later with capital murder. I could never shake the absence of compelling motive. Would a guilty person admit to police he smoked marijuana before getting in bed with his baby? Or tell authorities the toddler had fallen and sustained a lip injury?DA Dale Cox successfully painted Crawford as an unemployed habitual weed user who fathered two children out of wedlock with two women, a man who wasn't attentive to his son's medical issues. Other adults who loved the baby may have also missed signs of distress. But they weren't charged with murder.Harris County earns CIU crownOf the 166 exonerations in 2016, 70 came from CIUs. And many of those were in a single jurisdiction: Harris County.Harris County, which includes Houston, is now the CIU exoneration capital, with much of the credit going to its ambitious Post Conviction Review Section. Two-thirds of Harris County exonerations were nonviolent drug cases with black defendants.Exonerations for Harris County drug cases alone were 31 in 2014, 44 in 2015, and 48 last year. Official government misconduct, crime lab issues, and guilty pleas from innocents were among the causes for backlog and resulting exonerations.Four counties have been responsible for 90 percent of all CIU exonerations: Cook in Illinois, Dallas and Harris in Texas and Kings in New York. The last Dallas exoneration issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals was in 2014. So, my vote for the new model unit goes to Kings County, which includes Brooklyn. Houston is a close second. And I will never believe it is coincidental that several CIUs owe their creation to minorities and women.After Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson — the first black man elected for the job — took office in 2014, he kept a campaign promise to strengthen the conviction review unit. The CRU has 10 full-time prosecutors who can work more than 100 cases at any given time. So far, 23 people have been exonerated in Brooklyn. Of the cases the unit reviewed, 50 involved the same retired detective.University of Michigan professor and Registry editor Sam Gross told me, "It is highly important for CIUs to have input from outsiders, not just from other prosecutors — including, especially, defense lawyers."Walking out of AngolaOn Nov. 22, 2016, a bailiff escorted Crawford into Courtroom J at the Caddo Parish Courthouse. Shackles gathered around the prison orange seemed heavier than his body weight. Before the bond hearing, the Louisiana State Supreme Court had vacated Crawford's death sentence and granted a new trial. Family members were warned about showing emotion.As soon as Abigail Crawford saw her son, a hiss engulfed the courtroom. Someone spoke, "There he is."After Crawford bonded out, Ross Owen and I went to work, interviewing experts and debating, in person and by phone. I zipped down Interstate 20 so often, I could drive from Dallas to Shreveport blindfolded. I stayed in town for weeks. Finally, we submitted our joint findings to Stewart.I could never definitively conclude how Roderius Lott died. There were well-documented concerns, including sketchy medical care and an upper respiratory infection."If this child had bacteria in all lobes of the lung, this child was very sick," said an independent forensic pathologist who spoke to us. Even the Caddo medical examiner had testified that "all the lobes of lung contain varying amounts of bronchopneumonia."I do not believe Crawford killed his son. Ultimately, the final decision rested with Stewart, who could not exclude every other possibility of death. Earlier this year, I learned that Stewart would not retry Crawford. During our review, Crawford turned 28. I pray he will savor second chances via a rare exit from Angola.Joyce King is a writer in North Texas and the author of several books. Twitter: @writerjoycekingWhat's your view?Got an opinion about this issue? Send a letter to the editor, and you just might get published.  Continue reading...