Attorneys set criteria for new DA group

The Boulder District Attorney’s Office and local defense attorneys have created a set of criteria and an application process for the newlycreated conviction integrity unit as it gets ready to review possible wrongful conviction cases.

Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty created the unit in March and since then attorneys have been meeting to decide what types of cases it will reexamine.

“I’m excited about how much progress we’ve made to get this up and running,” Dougherty said.

Boulder Deputy District Attorney Mark Rimaldi, who is part of the unit, said the unit will look at cases out of Boulder County in which the person has credible evidence they did not commit the crime for which they were convicted.

“There must be a claim of actual innocence,” Rimaldi said. “Not that there was some issue with the legal process, or something didn’t go the way they planned.”

Rimaldi said there will not be a limit on the types of charges that will be considered by the unit.

“We certainly had a discussion about a limit, but we determined that different people can be affected by crimes of any level,” Rimaldi said. “We thought it would be fair to review all cases based on merit.”

Josh Maximon, the cochair of the Boulder chapter of the Colorado Defense Bar, said that cases in which the defendant is incarcerated will take priority, but it is important they look at all types of cases.

“A lot of innocence projects tend to be related to really serious cases, like murder or rape, but this unit is going to be looking at claims of innocence on every single level of alleged crime,” Maximon said. “For job applications, graduate school, housing requirements, Section 8 housing, having a conviction on your record is something that is really an impediment. So even though we’re giving a priority to incarceration cases, the collateral consequences of having a conviction are really significant in this society, so it’s excellent we’re able to look at those cases as well.”

Dougherty also said that the unit will consider guilty pleas, not just trial convictions, as long as there is still a claim of actual innocence.