WHY DALLAS LEADS IN DNA EXONERATIONS

Here’s an update on the Innocence Project by Matthew Wright over at the Texas Observer blog. At a party last night celebrating our Best Lawyers (coming in the May issue), the point was made to me that the reason Dallas is the center of activity in clearing cases is that our DA’s office is one of the few in the country–maybe the only in the country–that as a matter of policy preserves evidence for 25 years. The others toss it after the case is won and appeals are over. So if you were wrongly convicted in Houston or San Diego or Phoenix, tough luck.