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| Montana Bill Would Allow Inmates to Request DNA Testing |
| By Billings Gazette |
| Published: 01/20/2003 |
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Jim Bromgard was 18 in 1987 went he went to prison for a child rape he didn't commit. The Billings man was 33 when DNA evidence freed him in October. 'For all of his productive years, he was living day to day in the Montana State Prison,' said Bromgard's lawyer, Bill Hooks of Helena. Bromgard was convicted of raping an 8-year-old girl in Billings in 1987 and spent years trying to prove his innocence. But without money for a DNA test and a legal road map to follow, he was stuck, Hooks said. A bill under consideration in the Legislature would change that. Sponsored by Rep. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman, House Bill 74 sets out a process for people like Bromgard who were convicted either before DNA testing was widely used in Montana or convicted without the use of DNA testing. It would allow them to request a DNA test that could prove their innocence. The bill, which had its first public showing at a meeting Tuesday of the House Judiciary Committee, has the support of Attorney General Mike McGrath, who earlier suggested the idea to an interim legislative committee. A variety of people, including Hooks, spoke in favor of the bill at Tuesday's hearing. No one spoke against it. The bill would allow prisoners to request a DNA test from the Department of Justice, which would pay the cost, provided that the prisoner can show that DNA testing could have proved the inmate's innocence; that genetic material from the crime scene is still around and reliable; and that the inmate's identity was an important factor in the conviction, among others. Tests won't be granted automatically. Only a judge can call for a DNA test and one of the things the judge must consider is whether the prisoner is asking for a test only as a delaying tactic. The bill also stipulates that only people who, like Bromgard, always insisted on their innocence, could make a request. Prisoners who pleaded guilty couldn't later ask for a DNA test, Jent said. That troubles Jeff Renz, a University of Montana law professor who runs the school's criminal defense clinic. People plead guilty for all kinds of reasons, he said, and not always because they actually committed a crime. Renz referred to the Central Park jogger case in which several of the young men accused of raping and beating a New York City woman several years ago confessed to the crime. DNA testing later proved their innocence. Renz told the committee that it should amend the bill to let people who plead guilty also request a DNA test. |
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