Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Grits for Breakfast

Criminal Law

: Grits for Breakfast

Exonerees prevail in compensation suit vs. Comptroller

The State Supreme Court sided with exonerees in a lawsuit against the state Comptroller, who had disapproved portions of their compensation for false convictions because they were on probation or parole when falsely convicted of a different crime and revoked over the false allegations. Reports the Austin Statesman:The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered the state to pay $2.7 million to three wrongly convicted Texans who spent, in total, 52 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.Wrongly convicted Texans may collect $80,000 for every year in prison, but Comptroller Susan Combs' office ruled that the three men were ineligible for full compensation because they had been on parole for prior crimes when they were imprisoned.But a unanimous Supreme Court said Combs' office was too restrictive in applying the law, enacted in 1965 and updated in 2009 to compensate exonerated convicts for the emotional, physical and economic toll of prison...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 05, 2011 (boomark / email).