Rhode Island

Both Rhode Island and Oregon recently expanded their laws allowing for DNA testing by people trying to prove they were wrongfully convicted.

Both states have enacted laws to expand access to DNA testing for people convicted of a crime who are no longer in prison, The Oregonian's Maxine Bernstein and The Providence Journal's Katie Mulvaney respectively report.

Steve T. Wax, legal director of Oregon's Innocence Project, told Bernstein that Oregon's law was one of the most restrictive in the country. In that state, the standard to get post-conviction DNA testing will now be showing there is a reasonable possibility that testing would lead to a finding of actual innocence.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled that attorneys can't ghostwrite court filings for pro se litigants unless they sign the documents and disclose how much they assisted with the documents, Nicole Benjamin blogs for JDSupra Business Advisor.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court addressed this issue of first impression regarding three attorneys who ghostwrote pleadings on behalf of pro se defendants in three separate debt collection cases. The case is FIA CARD SERVICES, NA v. Pichette.

Benjamin notes that some legal advocates favor ghostwriting because it's one way to unbundle legal services and provide pro se litigants greater access to the legal system. On the other hand, attorneys who ghostwrite court filings aren't held to account under rules of civil procedure and professional conduct. And pro se litigants, who get greater leniency from courts in how their pleadings are construed, could benefit unfairly, Benjamin writes.

Five Rhode Island lawmakers had introduced drone legislation that would make it illegal for drones to take pictures or videos of private buildings without permission, Media General's WPRI 12's Allison Gallo reports. Other legislators have introduced legislation to create a panel to study how other states are regulating drones.

The Federal Aviation Administration has just released long-awaited rules to integrate drones into the American airspace, but those rules aren't expected to become final for two years or more.

The Rhode Island State Police has been asking people visiting its barracks to submit photo IDs, even though the state's open-records law says that people can request public records anonymously, the Providence Journal's Amanda Milkovits reports. The policy for checking visitor IDs is meant to protect police officers in light of law enforcement killings in Paris, New York City and outside a Pennsylvania State Police barracks. However, Justin Silverman, the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said "'requiring public record requestors to identify themselves violates the law. State agencies should not be able to unilaterally decide which parts of the law they are going to follow.'"