12 November 2010 :

Today Sen. Rodney Ellis (D., black) introduced "Innocence Protection Package" for 2011 Legislative Session, an ambitious package of criminal justice reform bills to prevent wrongful convictions. The Houston Senator's "Innocence Protection Package" incorporates many of the recommendations from the Tim Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions, a bi-partisan group with major criminal justice stakeholders that was established last session to investigate the causes of, and ways to prevent, wrongful convictions. The Innocence Protection Package includes legislation to: increase the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness identification procedures (SB 121); require electronic recording of custodial interrogations for serious felonies (SB 123); improve the state's post-conviction DNA testing statute (SB 122); and update the Fair Defense Act to improve criminal defense representation for indigent defendants (SB 170).