NY attorney general to review wrongful convictions

ALBANY -- State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is establishing a bureau to review potential wrongful convictions and streamline damage claims from those punished for crimes they didn't commit.

According to the attorney general's office, the Conviction Review Bureau will work with district attorneys to identify cases in anticipation of possible lawsuits, efficiently resolve claims by those unjustly convicted and review its own investigative and prosecutorial practices to ensure reliability and establish best practices.

"There is only one person who wins when the wrong person is convicted of a crime: the real perpetrator, who remains free to commit more crimes," Schneiderman said. He said his office will work with county prosecutors "to address compelling claims of innocence."

The bureau will be led by Thomas Schellhammer, assistant attorney general and former Manhattan homicide prosecutor, and Blake Zeff, senior adviser to Schneiderman.

While noting county prosecutors have successfully reinvestigated convictions, like the Central Park jogger case in Manhattan, Schneiderman said there may be others where an outside review helps. In the jogger case, teens who initially confessed to the 1989 rape and beating of a woman were exonerated after DNA evidence and a confession implicated someone else.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a law to require collecting a swab of DNA from everyone convicted of any felony and all but one misdemeanor starting in August.