LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Wrongly convicted Nebraska prisoners could have more chances to demonstrate their innocence under two bills presented to a legislative committee.
One bill offered Friday would remove the three-year window to seek a new trial based on newly discovered, non-DNA evidence.
The second would allow judges to order DNA testing on evidence that wasn’t previously tested, or where new technology could lead to more accurate or probative results. Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln says current law only allows the tests when such options weren’t available at trial.
Ada Joann Taylor, one of the so-called “Beatrice Six,” told lawmakers she’d still be in prison if one of her co-defendants hadn’t kept pushing for DNA tests to exonerate them in the 1985 Beatrice murder.