The Texas Defender Service, which takes court appointments but relies mainly on private funding, has performed similar work since then. Also, several Texas law schools run student clinics that assist indigent defendants and convicts. Last year, several Texas lawyers and professors at universities consulted with Mr. Scheck, who has supported creation of programs in other regions to take some of the numerous cases he gets from around the country. Mr. Dow and UH were first with a program in Texas, but Bill Allison, an Austin lawyer who teaches at the University of Texas law school, is trying to develop a program in Austin. Law professor Tim Floyd wants to organize one at Texas Tech in Lubbock.
Programs elsewhere are further along.
The University of Wisconsin program recently won the release of Texas inmate Chris Ochoa. DNA testing cleared him after evidence surfaced that another inmate committed an Austin rape-slaying for which Mr. Ochoa said he'd been pressured to confess.