Friday Roundup: A District Attorney, a Rock Band and a Guilty Plea

We wrote

yesterday

about the Texas jurors who convicted Hank Skinner and now say they support DNA testing in the case. Radley Balko

covered the case at Slate this week

, writing that Texas seems more interested in maintaining the conviction that confirming guilt or possibly learning of Skinner’s innocence.

A Michigan man pled guilty to eight counts of second-degree murder in mostly drug-related crimes and received a minimum sentence of 50 years behind bars. Police say that evidence suggests that the man committed four additional murders,

for which a teenager says he was wrongfully convicted

. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland

commuted the sentence of a death row prisoner

based partly on evidence that a medical examiner who testified in the case had lied about evidence and falsified his credentials. The state public defender is

reviewing possible wrongful convictions

involving the official.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins

spoke to the Texas Tribune

this week about exonerating the innocent and examining the causes of wrongful conviction. Watkins stressed that he’s focused on systemic criminal justice reforms — and not just DNA tests.

The band My Morning Jacket is donating $1 of each ticket sold for their upcoming

five-night run in New York

to the Innocence Project and other charities.