An Act to Establish a Conviction Integrity Unit in the Attorney
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0425
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MILLIKEN
Amends: 5 MRSA §200-O, 15 MRSA §2124-A

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.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §200-O is enacted to read:
§200-O.  Conviction Integrity Unit
1.  Establishment.  The Attorney General shall create the Conviction Integrity Unit 
within the Office of the Attorney General.  The Conviction Integrity Unit must be separate 
from the Office of the Attorney General's Criminal Division, and the director of the 
Conviction Integrity Unit shall report directly to the Attorney General.
2.  Purpose.  The purpose of the Conviction Integrity Unit is to review convictions 
obtained by the Office of the Attorney General or a district attorney to determine whether 
there is clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence.
3.  Review.  The Conviction Integrity Unit may, in its discretion and either upon its 
own initiative or upon application from any person, review a conviction that contains:
A.  Facts that suggest a plausible claim of actual 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.
4.  Investigation.  In reviewing a conviction, the Conviction Integrity Unit may 
conduct such investigation as it determines appropriate, including but not limited to a 
review of all files, evidence, work product, notes, laboratory records, personnel records and 
other information possessed or obtained by the State in the course of or relevant to the 
underlying conviction, any evidence proffered by the defendant or others, and such further 
facts and evidence that may be relevant, regardless of whether such facts and evidence were 
available or proffered by the defense at the time of trial.  An investigation may include 
interviews of defense counsel, the defendant, witnesses and others. 
5.  Evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.  If, in the course of reviewing a conviction, 
the Conviction Integrity Unit determines that there is credible evidence of prosecutorial 
misconduct, the Conviction Integrity Unit shall submit such evidence to the Board of 
Overseers of the Bar.
6.  Report of findings and post-conviction review.  Upon completion of a review of 
a conviction, the Conviction Integrity Unit shall report its findings to the Attorney General.  
If the Attorney General determines it appropriate to do so, the Attorney General may, with 
the consent of the convicted individual, file a petition for post-conviction review pursuant 
to Title 15, chapter 305-A.
7.  Annual report.  By March 1st of each year, the Attorney General shall prepare and 
transmit to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
judiciary matters a report describing the activities of the Conviction Integrity Unit during 
the preceding calendar year.  The report must include:
A.  The number of applications for review received pursuant to subsection 3 and the 
sources of the applications; and
B.  For each conviction reviewed:
(1)  The identity of the prosecuting authority;
(2)  The crime or crimes for which the individual was convicted;
(3)  Whether the conviction was the result of a trial or plea;
(4)  Whether any state or federal post-conviction review petitions were filed prior 
to review and the outcome of any such petitions;
(5)  Findings of the review by the Conviction Integrity Unit;
(6)  Whether a petition for post-conviction review under Title 15, chapter 305-A 
was filed following completion of the review under this section and the results of 
any such petition; and
(7)  Whether the review resulted in a referral to the Board of Overseers of the Bar.
8.  Rulemaking.  The Attorney General may adopt rules for the operation of the 
Conviction Integrity Unit.  Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical 
rules as defined in chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §2124-A is enacted to read:
§2124-A.  Petition by Attorney General
With the consent of an individual under a present restraint or impediment as a direct 
result of a criminal judgment of this State, as described in section 2124, the Attorney 
General, pursuant to Title 5, section 200-O, subsection 6, may initiate an action for post-
conviction review of such judgment by filing a petition in the court of original jurisdiction 
in the county specified in section 2123.  The provisions of this chapter apply to the petition, 
except that a waiver as set forth in section 2128, failure to exhaust remedies as set forth in 
section 2126 and failure to file the petition by the deadlines as set forth in section 2128-B 
do not bar such a petition.  If the court determines that relief should be granted, it shall 
order appropriate relief, including relief set forth in section 2130.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Attorney General to establish a single Conviction Integrity Unit 
in the Office of the Attorney General to review convictions obtained by the Office of the 
Attorney General as well as any district attorney's office.  The Conviction Integrity Unit 
must be separate from the Criminal Division, and the head of the unit reports directly to the 
Attorney General.  The purpose of the Conviction Integrity Unit is to review convictions 
to determine whether there is clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence.
The Conviction Integrity Unit is authorized, in its discretion and either upon its own 
initiative or upon application from any person, to review a conviction that contains facts 
that suggest a plausible claim of actual innocence, evidence of a constitutional violation or 
prosecutorial misconduct or facts or circumstances requiring a review in the interests of 
fairness or justice.
The Conviction Integrity Unit is directed to report evidence of prosecutorial 
misconduct to the Board of Overseers of the Bar.
The Attorney General is directed to submit an annual report describing the activities of 
the Conviction Integrity Unit to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having 
jurisdiction over judiciary matters.