By Michelle Feldman
In April, the Illinois legislature passed new legislation that would require pre-trial reliability hearings and specific disclosure requirements before jailhouse informant testimony is admissible in the most serious criminal cases. Now Senate Bill 1830 is awaiting action by the governor.
Illinois has been on the forefront of safeguarding against wrongful convictions stemming from unreliable jailhouse informant testimony. Based on recommendations from former Illinois Governor George Ryan’s Commission on Capital Punishment, the state passed a law in 2003 requiring pre-trial reliability hearings and specific disclosure requirements before jailhouse informant testimony was admissible in capital cases, which became moot when the death penalty was abolished in Illinois in 2011. SB 1830 would apply the same safeguards in murder, sexual assault and arson cases. Read more here from NPR.