Two bills designed to prevent false confessions and improve witness identification practices passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, cheering reformers seeking to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions.
After the votes, the influential chairman of the committee took an unusual shot at the Vermont Supreme Court — which Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington) said has dallied in deciding whether another reform designed to protect innocent defendants can be implemented.
Both bills that unanimously passed the committee Thursday were promoted by the Innocence Project, a national organization that champions DNA testing and has helped exonerate 312 convicts since 1989.
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Hey I am a hang em high and watch em guy kind of guy, but does this mean if you run a red light we take your DNA and put it on file. Kind of seems what Sen. Sears wants, of course I have referred to Sen. Sears as a worn out tired politician for the last several years, and this would be easy for him to get his way. Quite similar I might add to the ordinance Burlington will be voting on at town meeting concerning guns in bars. That ordinance if passed and approved by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor simply makes it possible to be walking down Church St. carrying legally concealed but bang when you cross the path of a restaurant tavern that has an on sidewalk permit to serve on Church St. Bang you can be arrested for crossing that path.