Ohio Legislators Pass Major Reform Package

By a vote of 85-7, the Ohio House of Representatives approved a bill that, if signed into law by Governor Ted Strickland, would offer unprecedented protections against wrongful convictions and improve prisoners’ ability to prove their innocence through DNA testing. 

Governor Strickland has said he will sign the bill into law once it is reconciled with an earlier, Senate-approved version. By a vote of 85-7, the Ohio House of Representatives approved a bill that, if signed into law by Governor Ted Strickland, would offer unprecedented protections against wrongful convictions and improve prisoners’ ability to prove their innocence through DNA testing. 

Governor Strickland has said he will sign the bill into law once it is reconciled with an earlier, Senate-approved version.

Bill sponsor Rep. Tyrone Yates, D-Cincinnati, said, “This is one of the most important pieces of criminal justice legislation in this state in a century.” Among the key reforms in the bill are:

• requiring the preservation of DNA evidence in serious crimes (such as homicide and sexual assault),
• police incentives for recording interrogations from beginning to end in serious crimes, and
• requiring police to practice double-blind lineups and eyewitness photo identification procedures.

The Ohio Innocence Project developed the legislation and has worked to pass it for the last two years with substantial assistance from the Innocence Project.

Read today’s press release here

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