Gov. vetoes 3 bills on crime case procedures

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed three proposals that would have tightened procedures governing investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger called the proposals unneeded restrictions on police.

The governor vetoed a bill to write rules for witness identifications made through police lineups, a bill to require that police interrogations in jail be recorded and a bill mandating corroboration of court testimony by jailhouse informants.

All three measures had been endorsed by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, a state body set up to study the problem of wrongful convictions. John Van de Kamp, chairman of the commission, said eight states now provide rules regulating eyewitness identifications, and legislatures in five states voted to require the recording of interrogations.

Schwarzenegger, in his veto messages, said current procedures provide adequate protection against abuse by informants, and said the measure requiring recording would tie the hands of police “when the need to do so is not clear.”

After two similar bills were vetoed last year, they were “changed significantly” to respond to the governor’s concerns, said commission Executive Director Gerald F. Uelmen.

The governor has “moved the goal posts,” Uelmen said.

The proposals were opposed by organizations of police chiefs, sheriffs and some district attorneys.