Innocence bills introduced in Texas Senate

Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis introduced two bills today — one calling for the creation of a Texas Innocence Commission and another boosting compensation in that state for the wrongly convicted.

"Enough is enough," said Ellis, who also chairs the Innocence Project's

Board of Directors

. "Day after day, week after week, we learn of more innocent Texans who have had their lives torn from them in tragic error. It is time for Texas to create an Innocence Commission to launch in-depth investigations each time an innocent person is wrongfully convicted, review what went wrong in these cases, why, and spell out the changes necessary to ensure these injustices are not repeated."

• 
  Read Ellis' full press release here
  
  . (01/22/07)
  
• Learn More about Innocence Commissions and Exoneree Compensation in our
  
  Fix The System
  
  section, and in our Fact Sheets on
  
  compensation
  
  and
  
  commissions
  
  .
• Read the case profiles of recent Texas exonerees
  
  Larry Fuller
  
  and
  
  Gregory Wallis
  
  .
• 
  Background on 12 Dallas County men proven innocence by DNA testing
  
  . (PDF)