I have a great deal of respect for Dallas DA Craig Watkins, who opened his agency's old files to the Innocence Project shortly after taking office in 2007. Luckily the DNA evidence is preserved in this jurisdiction by the practice of outsourcing testing to private labs, who preserve it appropriately. Those wrongfully convicted in other jurisdictions may never get so lucky.
eta: As detailed in the linked article, Mr. Dupree served his sentence and was paroled prior to having his conviction overturned. It's a victory of principle, but he will never get his life back.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
I was thinking about titling the thread, "Score one for justice", except I think exoneration after losing 30 years of your life isn't exactly justice.
Texas has a compensation statute for the wrongfully accused convicted, the Tim Cole Act, passed in 2009.
The Tim Cole Act provides $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration and adds free college tuition, plus financial and personal counseling. Unlike past lump-sum payments, the new compensation will be paid out in a mix of monthly payments, with an upfront lump sum and an annuity that can be passed on through a recipient's estate.
Do all states have compensation statutes?
The federal government, the District of Columbia, and 27 states have compensation statutes of some form. The following 23 states do not: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.
Actually the pragmatist side of me puts that as a "proper" amount. nothing can undo the injustice and any amount of money would be deemed insufficient. However, the higher the penalty on the state the more likly the state is to offer resistance to finding the truth.
The award in question seems to be near perfect balance in funds and other benifits for the wrongly accused while not being so generous as to encorage the state to be obstructionist.
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
