State: Bill allows DNA access for some inmates

TALLAHASSEE -- Urged on by victims' families, Florida legislators last year passed the Death Penalty Reform Act of 2000. It's mission: curb appeals and speed up executions.

But the recent revelation that Fort Lauderdale resident Frank Lee Smith spent 14 years on death row for a murder he did not commit has shaken up things.

Now, Florida is joining several other states in looking at ways to give inmates access to DNA tests that could prove their innocence.

One bill winding through the Legislature this year would allow convicted criminals to ask a judge to order a DNA test of crime scene evidence if one hadn't already been done or if improved technology would provide more accurate results.

Another bill would give Smith's survivors $3.5-million to compensate for his wrongful conviction of the 1985 murder of an 8-year-old girl. He died of cancer while in prison, 11 months before DNA tests confirmed his innocence.

The DNA bill, sponsored by state Rep. Randy Ball, R-Mims, would give inmates two years to request a DNA test, if they swear that they are innocent and the victim of mistaken identity. The state would pick up the tab for indigent inmates.

But House committee members amended their bill Thursday to exclude anyone who pleaded guilty, as some do in exchange for a lesser sentence. That amendment was hotly contested, with committee members voting 5-4 to approve it. It must pass several more committees before heading to the House.

"There are reasons people plead guilty when they're not," said state Rep. Sally Heyman, D-North Miami Beach.

Robert Trammell, general counsel for the Florida Public Defenders Association, told committee members he had a number of clients during his public defender days who opted for a plea bargain over a jury trial even though they were not guilty.

"If the true purpose of this whole concept is to determine guilt or innocence, then we should make it available to everyone," Trammell said.

But Buddy Jacobs, general counsel for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said it was "disingenuous" to suggest that people would be willing to go to jail for a crime they did not commit. He urged the committee to vote for the amendment.

"Nolo contendere means no contest, but you're still guilty," Jacobs said.

Ball, a former detective from Brevard County, agreed that innocent people are unlikely to accept a plea bargain. He said he decided to amend his bill after learning more about the issue.

"I think it's implausible to say that an innocent person would spend five years in prison to avoid a longer sentence. The innocent people that I've seen would fight to the death."

As a result of DNA testing, there have been about 80 post-conviction exonerations in the United States, with at least 10 of them for death row inmates. New York, Illinois and California have adopted laws requiring DNA testing in cases where it could determine guilt or innocence.

The death penalty reform that lawmakers approved last year failed to make any specific provision for access to DNA testing for inmates who might be innocent. Gov. Jeb Bush supported the reform, which the Florida Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional.

This time, Bush has voiced his support for providing certain inmates DNA tests. A Bush spokeswoman said Thursday that Bush has not changed his views since writing a letter earlier this month to state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, the bill's sponsor in the Senate.

"It has always been my position that whenever DNA evidence could prove innocence of a convicted person, that person should be afforded the opportunity to have necessary testing," Bush said in the letter.

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