An Act To Establish Conviction Integrity Units in Maine
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1273
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: EVANGELOS, MIRAMANT, HARNETT, O'NEIL, PLUECKER, WARREN, MAXMIN
Amends: 15 MRSA §2122, 15 MRSA §2123, 15 MRSA §2125, 15 MRSA §2126, 15 MRSA §2128, 15 MRSA §2128-B, 15 MRSA §2129

Legislative Document
No. 1273
H.P. 933
House of Representatives, March 29, 2021
An Act To Establish Conviction Integrity Units in Maine
Received by the Clerk of the House on March 25, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Judiciary pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative EVANGELOS of Friendship.
Cosponsored by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox and
Representatives: HARNETT of Gardiner, O'NEIL of Saco, PLUECKER of Warren, WARREN 
of Hallowell, Senator: MAXMIN of Lincoln.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA c. 301, sub-c. 5 is enacted to read:
SUBCHAPTER 5
CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNITS
§1861.  Conviction integrity units
1.  Conviction integrity units.  The Attorney General and every district attorney under 
Title 30-A, chapter 1, subchapter 5 shall maintain within their respective offices a 
conviction integrity unit that timely reviews the convictions resulting in imprisonment of 
criminal cases prosecuted by the Attorney General's or that district attorney's office to 
determine whether errors were committed justifying a post-conviction review of the 
conviction.
2.  Review.  A conviction integrity unit shall review a conviction in its office that 
contains:
A.  Facts that suggest a plausible claim of innocence; 
B.  Evidence of a constitutional violation or prosecutorial misconduct; or 
C.  Facts or circumstances requiring a review in the interests of fairness or justice.
That a person pleaded guilty or is no longer incarcerated is not an impediment to the 
person's conviction being reviewed under this chapter.  The conviction integrity unit may 
conduct a review of a conviction upon its own initiative or upon a referral from another 
person.  The conviction integrity unit shall conduct a periodic audit of convictions 
prosecuted by the unit's office to determine eligibility of review under this subsection.
3.  Investigation.  An investigation of a conviction under subsection 2 must include a 
review of all files, evidence, work product, notes, laboratory records, personnel files and 
other information possessed or obtained by the State in the course of or relevant to the 
underlying case, any evidence proffered by the defendant or others and further facts or 
evidence that may support a review under subsection 2 whether or not the facts or evidence 
was available or proffered by the defense at the time of trial.  An investigation may include 
coordination and cooperation with defense counsel, the defendant, witnesses or others, 
including documents, electronic files or laboratory or other records, to determine the facts 
and circumstances supporting a review under subsection 2.
4.  Convictions involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.  A conviction 
involving a substantial, nonconclusory allegation of prosecutorial misconduct by a present 
or former member of the conviction integrity unit's office must be referred to an 
independent authority for investigation and review. This referral must include both the 
allegation of misconduct as well as any included claim of innocence, constitutional 
violation or interests of fairness or justice.
5.  Certain individuals precluded from conducting review.  An attorney who 
prosecuted or was substantially involved in a conviction may not participate in the 
conviction integrity unit's review of that conviction.
6.  Recommendation; relief; petition.  If a conviction integrity unit determines 
appropriate based upon the review and investigation, the unit shall make in a timely manner 
a recommendation to the Attorney General or district attorney in whose office the 
conviction integrity unit is located whether to petition for post-conviction review under 
chapter 305-A and the relief to be sought.  The relief must be by agreement with the 
defendant and may include dismissal of the conviction, recharging the defendant and 
conviction of a lesser charge, reduction or termination of a sentence or other disposition.  
The Attorney General or district attorney may file a petition based upon the 
recommendation.
7.  Report.  The Attorney General and every district attorney shall submit an annual 
report on the activities of the conviction integrity unit in the Attorney General's or that 
district attorney's office, collected by the Attorney General and transmitted to the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public 
safety matters.  The report must include:
A.  The number and nature of convictions reviewed, including:
(1)  The total number of referrals received;
(2)  The number of convictions in which trials had occurred;
(3)  The number of convictions that had resulted in a plea;
(4)  The number of convictions for which prior state or federal post‐conviction 
petitions had been filed and adjudicated; and
(5)  The source of referrals, including from pro se defendants, innocence 
organizations, the defense bar, news media or other persons or from office-initiated 
investigations pursuant to audits arising from prior wrongful conviction matters 
including audits involving individual prosecutors, police officers or forensic 
techniques;
B.  The outcomes of reviews, including:
(1)  The number of convictions in which a decision was made not to undertake an 
investigation;
(2)  The number of convictions in which an investigation was undertaken;
(3)  The number of convictions for which relief was granted, the nature of that 
relief and the grounds for providing that relief;
(4)  The number of convictions where an investigation was undertaken and no 
agreement made between the parties resulting in continuing post‐conviction 
litigation and the status or result of that litigation; and
(5)  The number of convictions referred for independent review and investigation 
due to a substantial, nonconclusory allegation of misconduct by a prosecutor; and
C.  An analysis of the lesson learned and solution recommended for an error identified 
in the course of the activities of the conviction integrity unit, including identification 
of the root cause of the error, the potential use of an independent external expert to 
conduct a forensic review of the error, a reexamination of cases with similar or like 
facts or root causes and recommended policy change and implementation.
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §2122, as amended by PL 2011, c. 601, §4, is further amended to 
read:
§2122.  Purpose
This chapter provides a comprehensive and, except for direct appeals from a criminal 
judgment, exclusive method of review of those criminal judgments and of post-sentencing 
proceedings occurring during the course of and subsequent to sentences.  It is a remedy for 
unfair, unjust or illegal restraint and other impediments specified in section 2124 that have 
occurred directly or indirectly as a result of an unfair, unjust or illegal criminal judgment 
or post-sentencing proceeding.  It replaces the remedies available pursuant to post-
conviction habeas corpus, to the extent that review of a criminal conviction or proceedings 
were reviewable, the remedies available pursuant to common law habeas corpus, including 
habeas corpus as recognized in Title 14, sections 5501 and 5509 to 5546, coram nobis, 
audita querela, writ of error, declaratory judgment and any other previous common law or 
statutory method of review, except appeal of a judgment of conviction or juvenile 
adjudication and remedies that are incidental to proceedings in the trial court.  The 
substantive extent of the remedy of post-conviction review is defined in this chapter and 
not defined in the remedies that it replaces; provided that this.  This chapter provides and 
is must be construed to provide relief for those persons required to use this chapter as 
required by the Constitution of Maine, Article I, Section 10.
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §2123, sub-§1-A, as amended by PL 2003, c. 29, §2, is further 
amended to read:
1-A.  Supreme Court Justice or authorized Judge of the District Court.  A single 
Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme Judicial 
Court or a judge authorized to sit in the Superior Court on post-conviction review cases has 
and shall exercise jurisdiction and has and shall exercise all of the powers, duties and 
authority necessary for exercising the same jurisdiction as the Superior Court relative to a 
post-conviction review proceeding.  If a petition is brought under section 1861, the justice 
or judge who presided over the underlying conviction may not preside over the post-
conviction review of the case.
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §2125, as amended by PL 2013, c. 266, §4, is further amended to 
read:
§2125.  Ground for relief
A person who satisfies the prerequisites of section 2124 may show that the challenged 
criminal judgment or sentence is unlawful or unlawfully imposed, or unfair or unjust under 
section 1861 or that the impediment resulting from the challenged post-sentencing 
proceeding is unlawful, as a result of any error or ground for relief, whether or not of record, 
unless the error is harmless or unless relief is unavailable for a reason provided in section 
2126, section 2128 unless section 2128‐A applies, or section 2128‐B.
Sec. 5.  15 MRSA §2126, as amended by PL 2013, c. 266, §5, is further amended to 
read:
§2126.  Exhaustion
A Except for a proceeding brought under section 1861, a person under restraint or 
impediment specified in section 2124 must also demonstrate that the person has previously 
exhausted remedies incidental to proceedings in the trial court, on appeal or administrative 
remedies.  A person who has taken an appeal from a judgment of conviction, a juvenile 
adjudication or a judgment of not criminally responsible by reason of insanity is not 
precluded from utilizing the remedy of this chapter while the appeal is pending.  The post-
conviction review proceeding is automatically stayed pending resolution of the appeal 
unless the Appellate Court on motion and for good cause otherwise directs.
Sec. 6.  15 MRSA §2128, first ¶, as amended by PL 2011, c. 601, §9, is further 
amended to read:
A Except for a proceeding brought under section 1861, a person under restraint or 
impediment specified in section 2124 shall demonstrate that any ground of relief has not 
been waived.  The bases of waiver are as follows.
Sec. 7.  15 MRSA §2128-B, sub-§4 is enacted to read:
4.  Filing deadline for resentencing review.  A petition filed pursuant to section 1861 
may be brought at any time after the issuance of conviction.
Sec. 8.  15 MRSA §2129, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2003, c. 29, §3, is further 
amended to read:
1.  Filing of petition.  Petitions shall must be filed as follows.
A.  A proceeding for post-conviction review shall must be commenced by filing a 
petition in the Superior Court in the county specified in section 2123.
B.  If Except for a petition brought pursuant to section 1861, if the petitioner desires to 
have counsel appointed, he the petitioner shall file an affidavit of indigency in the form 
prescribed by the Supreme Judicial Court.  If the petitioner is incarcerated, the affidavit 
shall must be accompanied by a certificate of the appropriate officer of the institution 
in which the petitioner is incarcerated as to the amount of money or securities on 
deposit to the petitioner's credit in any account in the institution.  The failure to include 
an affidavit of indigency with the petition does not bar the court from appointing 
counsel upon a subsequent filing of an affidavit of indigency.
C.  Once the petition has been filed, the clerk shall forward a copy of the petition and 
any separate documents filed with it to the Chief Justice of the Superior Court and to 
the prosecutorial office that earlier represented the State in the underlying criminal or 
juvenile proceeding or, for a petition brought under section 1861, to the person whose 
conviction is being reviewed.
Sec. 9.  15 MRSA §2129, sub-§12 is enacted to read:
12.  Standard of proof for claims of innocence.  The standard of review for a petition 
filed under section 1861 claiming innocence is by clear and convincing evidence.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Attorney General and every district attorney to maintain a 
conviction integrity unit to review convictions in cases they prosecuted to determine 
whether there is plausible evidence of innocence, a constitutional violation or prosecutorial 
misconduct or when the facts and circumstances require a review in the interests of fairness 
and justice.  A conviction integrity unit may recommend that a conviction be dismissed or 
replaced with a lesser charge or may recommend a reduction or termination of a sentence 
or other disposition upon agreement with the defendant.  The Attorney General or district 
attorney may file a petition for post-conviction review based upon that recommendation.  
Prosecutors are prohibited from participating in the review of cases that they prosecuted 
and justices and judges are prohibited from presiding over the post-conviction review of 
cases over which they presided.  Cases of prosecutorial misconduct must be reviewed by 
an independent authority.  The standard of review for petitions claiming innocence is by 
clear and convincing evidence.