Texas Man Exonerated through DNA Testing. But He Wasn’t Expecting It
In 1990, Michael Phillips was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a motel complex where they both lived. The evidence against Philips consisted of the girl’s eyewitness account. She partly pulled her attacker’s ski mask off his face, and said that she recognized Phillips. She also identified him out of a photo lineup. According to this Washington Post article, his attorney told Phillips to plead guilty and avoid a trial, because he was a black man accused of raping a white teenager. Phillips did to avoid a harsher sentence, and spent 12 years in prison. After his prison sentence, he spent 6 months in jail after failing to register as a sex offender. Now, 24 years after the conviction, DNA evidence has cleared Phillips’ name. The arc of Phillip’s exoneration is unique in one regard: while most people actively try to clear their name, Phillips didn’t realize it was happening. The Dallas D.A.’s Office under Craig Watkins runs a program called the Conviction Integrity Unit that reviews post-conviction claims. They informed Phillips that his name was clear. Generally, prosecutors have fought post-conviction exonerations, even in the face of DNA evidence.
DNA Testing has Exonerated Hundreds of People Nationwide
Many are free today thanks to organizations like the Innocence Project. Since 1989, the Innocence Project has achieved 317 post-conviction exonerations. The Innocence Project is a national non-profit organization that fights to uncover wrongful convictions and reverse them. Poor lab testing and incorrect DNA results has been an albatross for the criminal justice system, as I have written about here and here. According to the Innocence Project’s website, of the 317 exonerations, 18 were on death row. In addition, the average length of confinement is 13.5 years.
Wrongful Confinement Costs Texans a Lot of Money
Texas is spending a lot of resources in compensation to those wrongfully convicted. As I written about recently (see: False Drug Convictions), labs across the state are inundated by DWI blood tests, causing delays in drug cases which are resulting in wrongful convictions. When a person is formally exonerated, they are entitled to $80,000 for each year spent in prison. Texas has spent more than $65 million in compensation since 1992.
Have you been arrested for a crime? Call my office: 817-689-7002. Come into the office for a free and confidential case evaluation. Our office is downtown: 108 Main Street, Fort Worth, TX,76102
