Fran Chardo started the conviction integrity unit Sept. 6 by hiring Joshua Lock to review convictions of people who say they are innocent. They have 66 applications so far.
to help district attorneys and to solicit applications from incarcerated people who maintain their innocence.
Lock has pledged not to defend any state cases as he works through the convictions assigned to him. He plans to methodically read and question everything, Chardo said, including all pre-trial motions, rulings and trial transcripts. He may interview defendants, their attorneys or others as part of his quest to ensure all required documents were turned over to the defense, that any forensic science used in the conviction is still valid and determine whether any new evidence has surfaced.
The cases come from applications sent to the Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office. The forms are supposed to be available at all state prisons. Only those who have exhausted other methods of appeal and who claim innocence are eligible. The unit is not set up to look at technicalities for guilty defendants, or cases in which juries believed certain witnesses over other witnesses.
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