The bipartisan Innocence Protection Act has picked up another four co-sponors in Congress:

Joel Hefley (R-CO)
Jane Harman (D-CA)
Scott McInnis (R-CO)
Xavier Becerra (D-CA)

There are now 246 co-sponsors of the bill.

Yesterday, the Justice Project's Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform delivered more than 135,000 petitions to all 100 U.S. Senators urging them to enact laws protecting the innocent from wrongful conviction and execution.

The petitioners ask their senators to ensure that every person accused of a capital crime has competent, experienced counsel and that those convicted of a crime have access to DNA testing of evidence. Both of these safeguards are provisions of the pending bill.

The legislation was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 12-7 vote in July. The counterpart House bill is now cosponsored by 246 members of Congress, including 64 Republicans - more than half the membership of the House. Representatives William Delahunt (D-Massachusetts) and Ray LaHood (R-Illinois) are the lead House sponsors of the bill.

In addition to the petitions, the Justice Project reports that 18,392 faxes were sent to Senators over the last two years by supporters of the Innocence Protection Act, bringing the overall number of petitions to 154,302. For a breakdown of the numbers, as well as a full listing of the bills' cosponsors by state, the legislation overview, and endorsements from prosecutors, victims groups, and other organizations, go here.

These petitions demonstrate that the American public wants their elected representatives to act to correct our nation's flawed capital punishment system.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), the bill's leading Senate sponsor, said: "The death penalty system is broken, and reforming it should be a priority for this Congress and for the administration. Waiting another year to finish this work might not seem like a long time for those of us in Congress, but for an innocent person on death row, it can be a lifetime."

If you want to add your voice, here's how.