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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 425
H.P. 279 House of Representatives, February 4, 2025
An Act to Establish a Conviction Integrity Unit in the Attorney
General's Office
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MILLIKEN of Blue Hill.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BOYER of Poland, SINCLAIR of Bath, Senators:
BENNETT of Oxford, CARNEY of Cumberland.
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1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §200-O is enacted to read:
3§200-O. Conviction Integrity Unit
41. Establishment. The Attorney General shall create the Conviction Integrity Unit
5 within the Office of the Attorney General. The Conviction Integrity Unit must be separate
6 from the Office of the Attorney General's Criminal Division, and the director of the
7 Conviction Integrity Unit shall report directly to the Attorney General.
82. Purpose. The purpose of the Conviction Integrity Unit is to review convictions
9 obtained by the Office of the Attorney General or a district attorney to determine whether
10 there is clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence.
113. Review. The Conviction Integrity Unit may, in its discretion and either upon its
12 own initiative or upon application from any person, review a conviction that contains:
13 A. Facts that suggest a plausible claim of actual innocence;
14 B. Evidence of a constitutional violation or prosecutorial misconduct; or
15 C. Facts or circumstances requiring a review in the interests of fairness or justice.
164. Investigation. In reviewing a conviction, the Conviction Integrity Unit may
17 conduct such investigation as it determines appropriate, including but not limited to a
18 review of all files, evidence, work product, notes, laboratory records, personnel records and
19 other information possessed or obtained by the State in the course of or relevant to the
20 underlying conviction, any evidence proffered by the defendant or others, and such further
21 facts and evidence that may be relevant, regardless of whether such facts and evidence were
22 available or proffered by the defense at the time of trial. An investigation may include
23 interviews of defense counsel, the defendant, witnesses and others.
245. Evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. If, in the course of reviewing a conviction,
25 the Conviction Integrity Unit determines that there is credible evidence of prosecutorial
26 misconduct, the Conviction Integrity Unit shall submit such evidence to the Board of
27 Overseers of the Bar.
286. Report of findings and post-conviction review. Upon completion of a review of
29 a conviction, the Conviction Integrity Unit shall report its findings to the Attorney General.
30 If the Attorney General determines it appropriate to do so, the Attorney General may, with
31 the consent of the convicted individual, file a petition for post-conviction review pursuant
32 to Title 15, chapter 305-A.
337. Annual report. By March 1st of each year, the Attorney General shall prepare and
34 transmit to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over
35 judiciary matters a report describing the activities of the Conviction Integrity Unit during
36 the preceding calendar year. The report must include:
37 A. The number of applications for review received pursuant to subsection 3 and the
38 sources of the applications; and
39 B. For each conviction reviewed:
40 (1) The identity of the prosecuting authority;
41 (2) The crime or crimes for which the individual was convicted;
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1 (3) Whether the conviction was the result of a trial or plea;
2 (4) Whether any state or federal post-conviction review petitions were filed prior
3 to review and the outcome of any such petitions;
4 (5) Findings of the review by the Conviction Integrity Unit;
5 (6) Whether a petition for post-conviction review under Title 15, chapter 305-A
6 was filed following completion of the review under this section and the results of
7 any such petition; and
8 (7) Whether the review resulted in a referral to the Board of Overseers of the Bar.
98. Rulemaking. The Attorney General may adopt rules for the operation of the
10 Conviction Integrity Unit. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical
11 rules as defined in chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
12Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §2124-A is enacted to read:
13§2124-A. Petition by Attorney General
14 With the consent of an individual under a present restraint or impediment as a direct
15 result of a criminal judgment of this State, as described in section 2124, the Attorney
16 General, pursuant to Title 5, section 200-O, subsection 6, may initiate an action for post-
17 conviction review of such judgment by filing a petition in the court of original jurisdiction
18 in the county specified in section 2123. The provisions of this chapter apply to the petition,
19 except that a waiver as set forth in section 2128, failure to exhaust remedies as set forth in
20 section 2126 and failure to file the petition by the deadlines as set forth in section 2128-B
21 do not bar such a petition. If the court determines that relief should be granted, it shall
22 order appropriate relief, including relief set forth in section 2130.
23SUMMARY
24 This bill requires the Attorney General to establish a single Conviction Integrity Unit
25 in the Office of the Attorney General to review convictions obtained by the Office of the
26 Attorney General as well as any district attorney's office. The Conviction Integrity Unit
27 must be separate from the Criminal Division, and the head of the unit reports directly to the
28 Attorney General. The purpose of the Conviction Integrity Unit is to review convictions
29 to determine whether there is clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence.
30 The Conviction Integrity Unit is authorized, in its discretion and either upon its own
31 initiative or upon application from any person, to review a conviction that contains facts
32 that suggest a plausible claim of actual innocence, evidence of a constitutional violation or
33 prosecutorial misconduct or facts or circumstances requiring a review in the interests of
34 fairness or justice.
35 The Conviction Integrity Unit is directed to report evidence of prosecutorial
36 misconduct to the Board of Overseers of the Bar.
37 The Attorney General is directed to submit an annual report describing the activities of
38 the Conviction Integrity Unit to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having
39 jurisdiction over judiciary matters.
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