Dallas DNA
April 30, 2009
Dallas DNA chronicles a pioneering unit within the Dallas County District Attorney's office where post-conviction DNA testing is being used to clear the innocent, as well as confirm the guilty.
When Craig Watkins ran for district attorney in Dallas County, he promised to fight for justice and through an innovative and unconventional new division he founded; he's been true to his word. In July 2007, Watkins created the nation's first Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) run by a DA's office and tasked it with re-examining hundreds of petitions submitted by inmates seeking post-conviction DNA testing and reinvestigating the cases that could be possible examples of injustice.
Dallas County has more exonerations than any other jurisdiction in the nation since state law began allowing post-conviction testing in 2001. In that time, more than 40 cases have received post-conviction DNA evidence analysis and the results have stunned the nation - to date, 19 cases were found to have wrongful convictions, and under DA Watkins' leadership ten innocent men have walked free.
The legal drama and the astounding ramifications including exonerations after men wrongfully spent decades behind bars is captured in Investigation Discovery's new six-part series DALLAS DNA, which is now on Investigation Discovery Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
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