TALLAHASSEE, FL, SEPT. 19, 2003. With the law that requires Florida officials to preserve evidence for DNA testing set to expire on October 1st, the Florida Innocence Project today filed an emergency lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court -- seeking a court order barring destruction of the evidence until the Legislature has an opportunity to act later this year.

The suit comes on the heels of another emergency petition filed with the Court on Wednesday by the Florida Bar, asking that the deadline for filing post-conviction DNA testing motions be extended for one year beyond the October 1st cut-off date. That suit was brought after the Bar's leadership voted unanimously (11-0) to do so, following hearings at which representatives of the Innocence Project told the group that nearly 600 hundred inmates -- untold numbers of whom may be innocent ö had sought legal assistance but had no lawyers to file motions on their behalf, and would forever lose the opportunity to get DNA testing if the law is allowed to expire.

"We are grateful that the Bar understood the crisis that has resulted from this deadline, and are optimistic that the FSC will adopt the Bar's thoughtful recommendation for an interim extension," said Craig Trocino, co-director of the Florida Innocence Project at Nova Southeastern University and lead author of the petition filed today, "but we had no choice but to file our own lawsuit, to make absolutely sure this irreplaceable DNA evidence is not destroyed in two weeks."

The Florida Innocence Project has two central offices, at law schools in Ft. Lauderdale and Tallahassee. Since the DNA testing law was passed in 2001, it has worked closely with the national Innocence Project's flagship office in New York, in an expedited effort to review the cases of more than 900 inmates who wrote letters claiming innocence and seeking the Project's help.

But the Project's shoestring budget and scant resources ö it relies mostly on volunteer attorneys and law students ö made completing this task "simply impossible," according to Jennifer Greenberg, a prominent Tallahassee lawyer who was recruited by the New York office to head up the screening effort in January. Greenberg noted that in hundreds of these cases, her team had not yet been able to locate even basic case documents, such as trial transcripts, that are needed before a DNA motion can be written and filed.

Catherine Arcabascio, co-director of the Nova Project, appeared with FSU President Emeritus (and recent recipient of the American Bar Association's Medal of Honor) Talbot D'Alemberte before the Bar's Rules Committee earlier this month to discuss those efforts in detail. Their testimony led to the filing of this week's extraordinary petition.

"Between our two offices, at last count we had 597 people who had written to us whose cases we simply didn't have the resources to review, much less investigate and file lawsuits on their behalf," she noted today. "This is not a case of unnecessary delay by us, or by the clients ö indeed, we have been working around the clock to move these cases as fast as humanly possible."

Added Trocino, "If there is DNA evidence in the State's possession that can scientifically prove the innocence of any of these people, it would clearly be unconstitutional to let them just throw that evidence in the garbage after October 1st."

Barry Scheck, co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, which has litigated DNA testing cases for more than a decade, said he had never before witnessed a similar crisis as now exists in Florida with the deadline looming. "But after working valiantly with our local allies to meet this deadline, we are hopeful that the Florida Supreme Court will recognize that emergency action is necessary to preserve this DNA evidence -- especially since post-conviction DNA testing can not only free the innocent but also, through DNA databanks, apprehend the real perpetrator, who would otherwise remain free to commit more crime."

Nina Morrison, the Executive Director of the New York office, added that the Project "had never before in our history had to do so much, so quickly, to ensure that justice is done." Both she and Scheck have spent the last six months conferring almost daily with the Florida team, and sent senior staff for days or weeks at a time to Florida to review case files, train volunteer lawyers, and assist with the preparation of DNA testing motions.

Notably, in the last two weeks, four of Florida's chief prosecutors ö from Dade, Broward, West Palm Beach, and Volusia Counties ö have all issued public statements reaffirming their commitment to continue to preserve evidence and allow postconviction DNA testing after October 1, whether or not the law is extended. But, the Project emphasizes that there is no substitute for a clear and uniform statewide rule.