The New York Times

Friday, June 9, 2000

Texas Lawmakers Seek Wide DNA Testing

By JIM YARDLEY

AUSTIN, Tex., June 8 -- With increasing national scrutiny and criticism focused on capital punishment in Texas, two prominent state senators, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, today called for a new law that would allow post-conviction DNA testing as a safeguard against executing an innocent person.

The proposed legislation mirrors laws in New York and Illinois and comes after Gov. George W. Bush granted a 30-day reprieve last week for Ricky Nolen McGinn shortly before his scheduled execution.

Mr. McGinn was convicted of raping and killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter in 1993, but on June 1 Mr. Bush, citing concerns that adequate tests on DNA evidence had not been performed, granted the reprieve to allow for new DNA tests.

State Senator Rodney Ellis, Democrat of Houston, today announced a package of bills for the 2001 legislative session that includes a bill that would allow convicted people, with some restrictions, to petition the trial court for DNA testing as part of their appeals.

Defense lawyers in Texas often unsuccessfully seek DNA testing from the courts as a means of establishing innocence.

In a signal of bipartisanship, State Senator David Sibley, Republican of Waco, appeared with Mr. Ellis at a news conference to endorse the DNA proposal and predicted swift action in the Legislature next year.

Mr. Sibley also supported a proposal by Mr. Ellis to create an "innocence commission," much like one established in Illinois, that would review select death penalty cases and make recommendations for improving the Texas death penalty system.

With Mr. Bush as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, capital punishment in Texas is under heightened scrutiny. In his five years as governor, Mr. Bush has presided over 131 executions, easily the most of any governor, and he often has expressed his unflinching belief in the fairness of the Texas system. His 30-day reprieve for Mr. McGinn was the first he had granted.

Mike Jones, a spokesman for Mr. Bush, said the governor would have to review the specifics of the DNA proposal, but added that he "supports reviewing state law on the use of DNA evidence when the DNA results are likely to determine guilt or innocence."

In three cases, including one last week, Mr. Bush has pardoned men convicted of rape after DNA tests confirmed their innocence. As for an innocence commission, Mr. Jones said Mr. Bush would need more information before taking a public stance.

Barry Scheck, a defense lawyer and a nationally recognized authority on DNA who appeared with Mr. Ellis, praised his proposal but cautioned that myriad other problems exist in Texas, such as inadequate lawyers for indigent defendants in capital punishment cases. Mr. Scheck is helping to establish the Texas Innocence Network, a group that will investigate such cases.

As president pro tem of the Texas State Senate, Mr. Ellis actually signed, at the governor's instructions, Mr. McGinn's reprieve because Mr. Bush and Lt. Gov.

Rick Perry were out of state.