"Brother of exonerated prisoner praises Perry’s criminal justice record"

The title of this post is the headline of this interesting report, which begins this way:

Cory Session's brother Tim Cole died in the middle of a 25-year prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit. So it's somewthing of a surprise that Session, who serves a policy director for Texas' Innocence Project, has nothing but good things to say about Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry is known as a tough-on-crime governor who heartily supports the death penalty. He's presided over more executions than any other governor since the death penalty was reinstated 35 years ago. When a special commission began to look into evidence that Perry could have presided over the execution of an innocent man, the governor abruptly removed three of its members and appointed allies in their stead, effectively quashing the probe.

But Session says Perry's support of other criminal justice reforms overshadow his record on the death penalty. "Governor Perry has done an exceptional job when it comes to criminal justice reform, more so than any other governor in Texas history," Session told The Lookout. "That's a record nobody can take away from him. His stance on the death penalty, well that's another thing. But we are very pleased with that record that he has."

Perry posthumously pardoned Cole after DNA evidence exonerated him and another inmate confessed to the sexual assault that produced Cole's conviction. Perry also signed legislation requiring police departments to develop policies around eyewitness identifications of suspects. (Cole was falsely identified after police showed a Polaroid photo of him to the victim, when all the other photos of suspects shown to her were in a different format. This is just one of many examples of investigative tactics that have lead to false identifications.)

Perry also signed into law the Tim Cole Exonerated Prisoner Act in 2009, which is the most generous compensation program for wrongly convicted men and women in the nation. When one exonerated man was denied compensation under the act due to a technicality, Perry worked to get a bill passed that provided him with the funds.

But despite this record, not everyone in the prison reform community is so happy to give Perry credit. "He has not been an obstacle for us but he has also not been a key leader," says Ana Yáñez-Correa, director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.

Some recent related posts: 

• Might GOP start debating Texas crime and punishment with Rick Perry in the 2012 race?
• Rick Perry's death penalty record already a topic of press coverage inside the Beltway
• "Perry delivers on Texas death penalty"