Can Texas Lawmakers Fix the "Junk Science" Problem?

Texas’s Junk Science Law isn’t Living up to its Promise. #JunkScience #WrongfullyConvicted #Texas

No innocent person should be in prison—or face execution—due to junk science.
— Texas Defender Service

On July 29, Texas Defender Service released a report: An Unfulfilled Promise: Assessing the Efficacy of Article 11.073, reviewing 70+ cases where defendants challenged junk science used to convict them. The report reveals a broken system.

Texas’s Article 11.073, passed in 2013, was meant to provide relief for those wrongfully convicted based on junk science. But its implementation has failed.

The Report's Key Findings:

• The law doesn't consistently lead to reversed convictions, even with junk science revealed.
• Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rarely grants relief unless an alternate perpetrator is identified, an impossible burden for most.
• Relief is primarily granted in DNA evidence cases, ignoring other false forensics. Since 1989, only 594 of 3400+ exonerations involved DNA.
• The Court has never granted relief to a death row inmate, despite high exoneration rates for those sentenced to death.
• Defendants who can't afford lawyers are effectively barred from relief.
• 80% of those seeking relief are denied, despite compelling evidence backed by experts.

Take the case of Robert Roberson. Wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death 20 years ago, he's now set to be the first person executed based on the shaken baby hypothesis, since debunked.

With thousands of innocent people in Texas prisons, reforms are needed to integrate scientific advancements into the justice system and hold courts accountable. The Texas Legislature must amend Article 11.073 to protect the innocent.

The report authors, former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, Rosemary Alcala, and Texas Defender Service attorney, Hebron-Jones, urge action:

The past ten years have shown the law isn't working. We hope the Texas Legislature will act to protect the innocent.