by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Time is almost up for local criminal defense attorney James Miller and about 400 prisoners in Florida.
For the past six months he has been poring over dozens of cold cases that, if re-examined using today’s DNA testing technology, might prove that an innocent person was wrongfully imprisoned.
Defendants are allowed to request a new DNA-based review of their case due to a Florida state statute passed in 2001 but Miller said time is of the essence because the deadline to file a motion is Oct. 1.
The statute’s original deadline was Oct. 1, 2003, but it was amended to 2004 and again to 2005. Miller said he thinks the current deadline will probably stick this time, meaning he has to hustle.
Working in conjunction with the Florida Innocence Initiative and the national Innocence Project, the Florida Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers agreed to review about 200 of the approximately 400 backlogged cases in Florida, said Miller who is chair of FACDL’s Florida Innocence Initiative committee.
“We are reviewing all of these cases to try to see if the individuals are qualified for this testing,” said Miller, who is personally reviewing 100 of the cases.
“Normally, when you have a case like this you have an appeal after going through trial and this is what is called post-conviction relief,” he said. “That normally has to be done within two years of when the appeal became final. Well, some of the cases like the ones I have been dealing with are 20, 30, one of them is 40 years old.”
Miller said when the statute was passed in 2001 all of the old cases got a second chance for review, which for some of the defendants meant a last chance to plead their innocence.
“There are a few cases still in litigation but for a great majority of them the defendant is at the end,” Miller said. “They have litigated everything they can litigate. This is it. This is the last hope.”
In order to ask for a new DNA-based review, Miller said the defendants have to have a few qualifying circumstances — a legitimate claim of innocence and DNA evidence.
“There has to be biological material still in existence and the defendant has to show that there was an issue of misidentification and that the DNA material would exonerate him,” said Miller.
Though it has meant a lot of extra pro bono work on nights and weekends, Miller said it is worth it even if only one person is exonerated.
“The truth is, there is only going to be a handful of cases that qualify,” he said. “But we really take this seriously because there might truly be an innocent person out there.
“The (Florida) Innocence Initiative has had a lot of problems. They are underfunded, they have all of these cases and I am in an organization, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and we volunteered to help. If we didn’t volunteer I am not sure that this would get done.
“All of this work is worth it if there is one innocent person. It sounds like a cliche but it really is true. Look at that poor guy in Miami (Luis Diaz) that spent 26 years in prison. We were asked to help and we volunteered.”