SB 2208 Summary

• Creates the Oklahoma Commission on Wrongful Conviction, to exist until December 31, 2015, to review cases where innocent people were convicted and exonerated.

• Commission shall have 13 members appointed by the Governor, Attorney General, state legislators, Chief Justice, State Regents Chancellor, Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, and Oklahoma Bar Association, including law professors, law enforcement, forensic scientists, judges, and a wrongfully convicted individual.

• Commission duties include reviewing wrongful conviction cases, identifying systemic causes, identifying current laws and procedures implicated in these causes, proposing legislative and procedural reforms, and issuing detailed annual reports with recommendations.

• Reports shall be submitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and Speaker of the House by January 1, 2012, and annually thereafter; recipients must issue formal written responses within 60 days.

• Appointing authorities must make all appointments within 60 days of the effective date; bill becomes effective July 1, 2010, with an emergency clause declared.