A new law in Texas will pay wrongly convicted inmates up to $80,000 for each year they spent in prison. In addition, the law grants an annuity which will provide a lifetime of income for the exonoree.
The wrongful conviction compensation bill is HB1736 and is called the Tim Cole Act. Cole died in prison at age 38, after being convicted of rape. DNA testing on an original rape kit proved cole was not the rapist.
Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, signed the bill on the same day Jerry Lee Evans was released from prison. Evans did 23 years for a rape he didn't commit.
It's clear that DNA testing would have proved the innocence of both Cole and Evans had it been available during their trials. But it wasn't. DNA testing has already helped exonorate 40 inmates in Texas, the most of any state. If testing was available in 1985, the year of Cole's trial, he never would have been convicted.
I'd like to find the evidence the prosecution used to convict him. A Chron.com article says that the rape victim in the case was working with Cole's family to clear his name. How on earth did Cole get convicted if the victim said he didn't do it?
This law is extremely broad to say every person who is wrongly convicted will get $50,000-$80,000 for every year they spent in prison. I think the person who was wrongly convicted should get paid for whatever they were getting paid when they went to prison. Take a look at the last five W-2's and set an average. Add inflation for each year. If someone was working at McDonald's before being convicted, why pay them $65,000 a year. On the other hand, a restauranteur making $500K per year isn't getting compensated with $80,000.
Now that forensic DNA testing is available, instances of wrong convictions should decrease drastically. Hopefully, it will phase out and states won't need to dish out millions to innocent people.
Arizona's Justice Project is hopping on the bandwagon of offering DNA testing to convicts they believe are innocent.
