California is set to remove barriers to overturning wrongful convictions after Gov. Gavin Newsom last week approved legislation seeking to simplify the exoneration process.
Newsom signed Senate Bill 97, proposed by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, which removes a number of significant barriers to overturning wrongful convictions, Wiener's office announced Saturday.
The Golden State leads the nation in exonerations for wrongfully convicted people, overturning over 200 convictions from 1989 to 2013. However, the process to overturn a wrongful conviction in the state remains complex and needlessly arduous, according to Wiener's office.
To address this, SB 97 will streamline the process for the wrongly accused to have their convictions overturned, the office added.
"Enabling innocent people to avoid unjust criminal penalties makes our justice system stronger," Wiener said in a statement. "I thank the Governor for supporting this necessary reform."
The bill, among other things, will direct judges to give great weight to a prosecutor's concession that a person has been wrongfully convicted, eliminate obstructive technical requirements to ensure that courts can fairly and fully examine newly discovered evidence, and give an exonerated person the ability to have continuous counsel if tried again.
SB 97 also requires that the wrongfully convicted are provided appropriate counsel throughout litigation.
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The bill is sponsored by The California Innocence Coalition.
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