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LEAHY-SPECTER-FEINSTEIN-BIDEN-DURBIN-EDWARDS
SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT TO
S.486, THE INNOCENCE PROTECTION ACT
DNA TESTING:
Ensures post-conviction DNA testing is available where it can
expose wrongful convictions;
Establishes the procedures to be followed in the federal system
and requires States to adopt comparable procedures as a condition of
receiving federal funds for DNA-related programs; and
Adopts the view of two federal judges that inmates have a
constitutional right to access biological evidence for the purpose
of DNA testing.
COMPETENT COUNSEL:
Establishes a grant program for States to improve the systems by
which they appoint and compensate lawyers in death cases;
States that accept grant money must meet basic grant compliance
standards, which may be enforced through civil suits in federal
district court;
If a State does not qualify or does not apply for a grant, money
is used to fund organizations in the State that provide legal
services in capital cases.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS:
Includes Specter proposal under which a stay of execution would
be automatic when the U.S. Supreme Court grants a petition of
certiorari to a death row inmate;
Includes Durbin proposal providing student loan forgiveness for
prosecutors and public defenders; and
Increases compensation for those wrongfully convicted in the
Federal system, and expresses a Sense of the Congress that States
should provide reasonable compensation to those wrongfully convicted
and sentenced to death.
KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN S.486 AND THE SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT:
The substitute amendment imposes additional threshold
requirements for obtaining post-conviction DNA testing;
The substitute amendment’s articulation of a constitutional
right under the 14th amendment is both narrower and
broader. It is narrower in that it provides a right to access
biological evidence for the purpose of DNA testing, not a right to
DNA testing or to present DNA test results in court. It is broader
in that it extends to all inmates, not just death row inmates.
Counsel provisions have been overhauled to avoid imposing
federal mandates on the States, and to avoid altering habeas corpus
law in any respect;
There is a substantially smaller increase in the federal cap on
compensation for unjust imprisonment ($10,000/year rather than
$50,000-$100,000/year), and no pressure on the States to raise their
caps;
The substitute amendment includes Specter and Durbin proposals
concerning stays of execution and loan forgiveness; and
Several miscellaneous provisions of the original bill have been
dropped.
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