Maricopa County Will Investigate Wrongful Conviction Claims

PHOENIX, AZ — Maricopa County plans to begin investigating innocence claims from those who have already been convicted of crimes. It's a welcome change for both officials within the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and the Arizona Justice Project, which said prosecutors in the county have for years have created hurdles for those who have been wrongfully convicted.

Rachel Mitchell, a longtime prosecutor, will begin next week in a new role as special assistant to the chief deputy and be in charge of the county's newly created "prosecution integrity program," Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel said.

Mitchell will work with defense organizations outside the office and with prosecutors in the office to review and address items of integrity and conduct. One of her first tasks, Adel said, will be to study similar units in other prosecution agencies and help develop a framework for the Maricopa County office.

Once complete, the change will create "a centralized process to handle claims of actual innocence, potential inappropriate police conduct including alleged excessive use of force and other claims of prosecutorial unfairness in handling cases," the Attorney's Office said.

“While these types of matters have been regularly addressed by individual prosecutors and supervisors, I believe we can more effectively address these issues by centralizing the process," Adel said.

Programs like this are referred to by state innocence projects as conviction integrity units, which the Arizona Justice Project said in a statement "are critical to correcting wrongful convictions and instances of manifest injustice."

"The current MCAO policies pose incredible hurdles to investigating claims of innocence, and there is no current mechanism to correct cases of excessive sentencing," said Megan Ealick, development and communications director for the Arizona Justice Project. "We are hopeful that this new unit will lead to important change."

Mitchell said she is looking forward to leading the effort, and is “dedicated to ensuring MCAO is a leader in this area.”