Received from Kyle O'Dowd, Legislative Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL):

The Innocence Protection Act (IPA) now has a total of 26 Senate cosponsors and 238 House cosponsors. The bill, S.486, provides safeguards against wrongful convictions by expanding access to DNA testing and improving the quality of indigent defense in capital cases.

In recent weeks, Senator Leahy has worked closely with other members of the Judiciary Committee to forge a consensus approach to these issues. Those discussions have produced a substitute amendment that the Judiciary Committee will consider at its next executive session tomorrow, July 11th, at 10:00 am (E).

The substitute amendment to the Innocence Protection Act includes four major changes:

1. A new provision that would affirm a Fourteenth Amendment right to DNA testing under certain circumstances.

2. The proposed National Commission on Capital Representation has been eliminated in favor of an approach that would establish a grant program for states to improve the systems by which they appoint and compensate lawyers in death cases. States that accept grant money must meet basic grant compliance standards, which may be enforced through civil suits in federal district court.

3. A new provision that would ensure death row inmates are not executed while their cases are being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

4. A new provision that would provide student loan forgiveness for prosecutors and public defenders. (Note that this is an authorization only; getting federal funding for the program may be tough.

We'll post a link to the Substitute Amendment as soon as we get it. Right now we only have it as a downloaded pdf. document. If you find it first, please email it to us, thanks.