08:27 PM CDT on Monday, June 15, 2009
By Lee McGuire / 11 News / KHOU.COM
HOUSTON -- A federal district judge has refused to dismiss a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit against the City of Houston, clearing the way for George Rodriguez’s claim that he was wrongfully imprisoned to go to trial Tuesday.
His attorney, Mark Wawro, declined to comment except to say he is seeking compensation for what he has lost.
Court documents indicate that Rodriguez believes the city was complicit in his wrongful conviction by looking the other way as conditions in the city’s crime lab deteriorated over a period of several years.
The 11 News Defenders first exposed widespread problems with mishandled evidence, poor training and faulty test results five years ago. In 2004, a judge allowed Rodriguez to be released on bond after DNA testing cleared him in the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl in 1987.
Houston City Attorney Arturo Michel said the problems at the crime lab were not the source of the conviction. Instead, Michel points to the dishonest testimony of a crime lab supervisor.
“I think what you have here is a person who was simply not honest,” Michel said. “It doesn’t matter how many funds you put into something and how good a program you have, you cannot guard against a person’s dishonesty.”
“What we are going to show here is that you have someone who was lying on the stand and it was a tragic consequence,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Houston City Council will consider extending the contract with a private law firm that is representing the city in court. The City Attorney has already paid $50,000 to the law firm of Feldman & Rogers, and Wednesday’s vote would extend that to up to $200,000.
Neither Michel nor Wawro would comment on exactly what financial relief Rodriguez is seeking in the case, but Michel said “they began with tens of millions of dollars that they would like the city to pay them in this process.”
Since then, Michel said, confidential discussions between the parties have been underway.
Rodriguez’s suit began with a wide range of defendants, including the City of Houston, Harris County and individuals involved in the case. The other defendants have either been dismissed from the case or have reached private settlements, Michel said.
11 News legal expert Gerald Treece says that Rodriguez’s legal claim his civil rights were violated is traditionally difficult to prove.
“There has to be a conscious indifference by a policy or practice of the government,” he said. He added Rodriguez would have to prove city leaders knew the evidence that helped lead to the conviction was faulty and they “simply didn’t care."
Jury selection begins Tuesday morning in United States District Judge Vanessa Gilmore’s courtroom.
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