Did recent cases of exoneration by DNA evidence play a role?
Pascrell: DNA exoneration was not specifically pertinent to the inmates then on death row in New Jersey, as their guilt was well established. Nonetheless, the argument that innocent persons may be executed was highlighted by the over 100 cases of death row exoneration that had popped up all over the United States. These cases give credence to the argument that wrongful executions are occurring in this day and age despite all of the civil protections in place through the trial and appellate process, and this was the key argument to win over some members of the Legislature. Filippelli: At the very first hearing of the study commission, Larry Peterson, who had just been exonerated in South Jersey (a capital case, but not a death row inmate), testified unbelievably forcefully about the fact that he had spent 18 years in prison for a capital crime that he did not commit. Sitting next to him was Barry Sheck, the leading DNA attorney from the Innocence Project in New York at the Benjamin Card
