Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno told Wisconsin legislators Thursday police officers and prosecutors must avoid focusing on a single suspect in a criminal investigation and should instead concentrate on \connecting the dots"" in cases to avoid convicting innocent people.
Reno testified before the Avery Committee, headed by state Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, which is investigating why Steven Avery of Two Rivers, Wis., was wrongly convicted and is searching for ways to prevent such mistakes in the future.
Reno said there are currently 143 known cases in which an innocent person was convicted.
She said it is important to let ""police and politicians know that people do make mistakes and they can convict innocent people.""
To prevent this scenario, Reno said officials must avoid ""tunnel vision"" when searching for suspects. She suggested developing a checklist in which officials investigate all possible leads, identify inconsistencies in eyewitness testimonies and identify the psychological and social status of suspects.
""[Police and prosecutors] don't sit down and say 'Hey, what have we got, what can we do to ensure that justice is achieved,'"" she said.
Reno said she was approached by one man who was wrongly convicted who told her if police had truly looked at his testimony, they would have realized there were some things that just did not make sense.
Gundrum praised Reno for her testimony and reiterated the seriousness of the committee's investigation.
""The exoneration of the innocent is important, perhaps more important than the conviction of the guilty ... that's justice,"" he said.
-Maureen Backman
