Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Exoneration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House passes bill establishing non‑DNA exoneration process and compensation
Summary
Senate Bill 16 creates a statutory mechanism to exonerate people wrongfully imprisoned based on factual innocence (not limited to DNA evidence) and provides compensation; sponsor recounted an interim hearing with a man wrongfully convicted to illustrate the need.
The Utah House adopted Senate Bill 16 on Feb. 6, establishing a process to exonerate persons wrongfully imprisoned on the basis of factual innocence and to provide compensation for victims of wrongful conviction.
Representative Agard, the House sponsor, said the measure fills a gap left by earlier statutes that only addressed DNA‑based actual innocence claims. He recounted an individual who appeared before the judiciary interim committee whose wrongful conviction for murder — and subsequent exoneration — highlighted the need for a non‑DNA path to have convictions set aside.
“Although we do have a DNA actual innocence bill that was passed by this body in 02/2001, we had no mechanism to exonerate people through factual innocence other than DNA,” Agard said, summarizing the bill’s purpose.
Sponsor remarks emphasized the human cost of wrongful imprisonment and framed the bill as a corrective measure that provides both exoneration and compensation. The House voted and the bill passed with an overwhelming majority; it will be returned to the Senate for the president’s signature.
What’s next: the bill will proceed to the Senate and, if signed, create a statutory path for factual‑innocence exonerations and compensation in Utah.
