No. 17 provides a twist on Dallas County DNA exonerations

On this sunny Tuesday morning, 265th District Court Judge Mark Stoltz signed an order exonerating James Woodard of a murder the former inmate has consistently argued for 27 years that he did not commit. While these DNA exoneration hearings are becoming an almost monthly occurrence in the Frank Crowley Courts Building -- Woodard’s is the 17th of its kind -- there something a bit different about this one, says his attorney, Jeff Blackburn, senior counsel at the Innocence Project of Texas. According to a press release from the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, this is what happened in the case: Woodard was convicted by a jury of murder of Beverly Jones and was sentenced to life in prison. Jones had been sexually assaulted, and Woodard had had a relationship with her. Woodard was convicted largely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, but a December DNA test of a rape kit of the victim did not match Woodard’s DNA. Blackburn says that the DA’s office could have said “So what about the DNA? He was convicted of murder. That doesn’t clear him.” But the Dallas DA’s office didn’t do that and had its Conviction Integrity Unit look into the matter. A subsequent investigation found that three men had been seen with Jones shortly before the murder --- two of whom had previous sexual assault convictions, according to the release. That information was not provided to Woodard’s defense attorney before his 1981 trial, according to the release. Now the Dallas DA’s office is looking at other cases in which DNA is not the only factor which could exonerate an inmate. “We can change the system, not to make it easier” for exonerations, Dallas County DA Craig Watkins said during the hearing,“but to make it better.”  Woodard said during the hearing that he was glad Watkins and his office were willing to review his innocence claims. “I’m especially thankful for Mr. Watkins,” Woodard says, who he described as a DA of integrity.
--- John Council