Watkins says lock up rogue DAs

Craig Watkins, the Dallas County district attorney, agrees with me and then some.

I blogged earlier this week that unethical prosecutors ought to have to publicly apologize to wrongfully convicted persons when they are set free. Watkins, the district attorney who is making a name for himself by actively collaborating with Innocence Project of Texas to free a number of wrongfully convicted felons, wants to go much further on prosecutors who deliberately withhold exculpatory evidence from defense attorneys. MUCH further.

Mandatory disbarment. The possibility of criminal sanctions. (Texas, unlike some states, doesn’t have a criminal punishment for “Brady law” violations.)

State Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston backs him up. Ellis, who proposed the state law to compensate the wrongfully convicted, says the amount of payouts show just how big a problem it is.

Plus, the State Bar of Texas is, to put it politely, a piece of crap. It makes even the Texas Medical Association look tough, and that’s hard to do.

So, for the other DAs across Texas who disagree with Watkins, you’re just wrong. It is NOT an overreaction, which Williamson County DA John Bradley claimed.

Then you have Toby Shook, Watkins’ GOP opponent in 2006, who says Brady violators should be in prison but Brady violations should not be incarcerated.

Thank doorknob you weren’t elected. James Lee Woodard would probably still be in prison.

My idea for legal system apologies to wrongly incarcerated

After reading the story of James Lee Woodard, just freed from prison after 27 years of wrongful incarceration, I have an idea to increase the apologies that someone like him gets offered when they finally get exonerated.

Make the original trial judge, the original prosecutors who suppressed evidence, the original cops who asked leading questions of witnesses, to all come back — on their own dime, if they’re no longer in the area — and make their own apologies.

Second, change any statute of limitations for civil suits on the matter to match the maximum sentence time of the original crime, and start the clock ticking from the moment the person is released.

Bad cops and bad prosecutors would rethink if they knew they could be sued 30 years later, including having pensions garnisheed and such.