The California Attorney General’s Post Conviction Justice Unit (PCJU) has finally started reviewing claims of factual innocence, more than two years after they made a promise to do so.
The unit will review claims of factual innocence prosecuted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), and in certain cases, other prosecution agencies in California, according to the AG’s website. They will also look at cases in which defendants “who demonstrate that they no longer pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” seek resentencing.
This comes four months after L.A. TACO first reported that the PCJU had not begun accepting applications from defendants who say they were wrongfully convicted, nearly two years after Attorney General Rob Bonta made headlines for launching the DOJ’s first-ever post-conviction review unit.
The story is part of an ongoing series centered on conviction review units and the people and organizations fighting to free innocent people from incarceration.
About a month after our story was published, in January, the AG’s office posted a new job listing for a deputy attorney general position within the unit. A private investigator who monitored weekly emails from the AG’s office told L.A. TACO that it was the first time in two years that they had seen a job listing associated with the PCJU advertised.