For Dallas, New Prosecutor Means an End to the Old Ways

Since 2001, 13 prisoners were found through DNA evidence to have been wrongfully convicted in Dallas County after serving a total of 185 years behind bars. Only Illinois and New York, besides Texas, have had more convictions overturned by genetic testing than Dallas County, a fact attributable in part to evidence retained to assure reconviction in the event of a successful appeal.

Now, many more DNA exonerations could be in store under a review of more than 400 other cases ordered by Mr. Watkins, 39, who made history last November by eking out a second-try victory in a Democratic landslide to become Texas’s first black district attorney.

Read the rest of the story at New York Times