Ex-Prisoners in Texas Getting Paid Guaranteed Annuities for Life

[clb09]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090904/ap_on_re_us/us_exoneree_millionaires


Exonerees also receive an array of social services, including job training, tuition credits and access to medical and dental treatment. Though 27 other states have some form of compensation law for the wrongly convicted, none comes close to offering the social services and money Texas provides.

The annuity payments are especially popular among exonerees, who acknowledge their lack of experience in managing personal finances. A social worker who meets with the exonerees is setting them up with financial advisers and has led discussions alerting them to swindlers.



The drumbeat of DNA exonerations caused lawmakers this year to increase the compensation for the wrongly convicted, which had been $50,000 for each year of prison. Glasheen, the attorney, advised his clients to drop their federal civil rights lawsuits and then led the lobbying efforts for the bill.

Besides the lump sum and the monthly annuity payments, the bill includes 120 hours of paid tuition at a public college. It also gives exonerees an additional $25,000 for each year they spent on parole or as registered sex offenders.

[amy31416]

Actually, I'm thinking that if the court system fails a person and takes years of their life, that that sort of compensation is justified.

If a man is a doctor and is accused of rape, even if he's fully exonerated, he'll likely never be able to practice again. If a 40-year old was wrongly convicted at 18 and has been in prison for all that time, what the heck is he supposed to do now?

This is a pretty rare circumstance, but I'm actually for these services at the taxpayers expense. Maybe there will be some motivation to ensure that the courts are just and they don't put innocent people in jail and destroy their lives.

[gls]

Realistically with all the money the state wastes, I'm not worried about compensation for people who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.

[dannno]

Ya these people have been wrongfully convicted, they certainly aren't some enemy to be demonized..

Tax payers should consider this when sentencing criminals. You better be pretty f'in sure when you fire off that guilty verdict.

[Justin D]

The people who gave these people the guilty verdict should all pay up. This can be used as a threat to make sure they never screw up again when convicting somebody. The tax payers aren't liable. The judge, jury, and prosecutor (am I missing anybody?) should be held liable for their "misjudgement". Especially the prosecutor.

[amy31416]

The people who gave these people the guilty verdict should all pay up. This can be used as a threat to make sure they never screw up again when convicting somebody. The tax payers aren't liable. The judge, jury, and prosecutor (am I missing anybody?) should be held liable for their "misjudgement". Especially the prosecutor.

If you're going to target specific individuals then you'd have to hold a hearing as every case would differ. If the cops used fake evidence, then you can't hold the jurists responsible, you'd hold the cops responsible. If a person was set up, then you'd have to hold the person who set him up responsible...

Starts to get pretty messy.

[John of Des Moines]

The people who gave these people the guilty verdict should all pay up. This can be used as a threat to make sure they never screw up again when convicting somebody. The tax payers aren't liable. The judge, jury, and prosecutor (am I missing anybody?) should be held liable for their "misjudgement". Especially the prosecutor.

Good way to get people to do jury service - threaten them with a money judgment if they return a verdict in error based on false evidence. Yes, jury nullification at work.

[cindy25]

if police use fake evidence they should go to jail, and so should the prosecutor if he knows about it. sentence should equal the that given to the person wrongly convicted.

[tremendoustie]

Actually, I'm thinking that if the court system fails a person and takes years of their life, that that sort of compensation is justified.

If a man is a doctor and is accused of rape, even if he's fully exonerated, he'll likely never be able to practice again. If a 40-year old was wrongly convicted at 18 and has been in prison for all that time, what the heck is he supposed to do now?

This is a pretty rare circumstance, but I'm actually for these services at the taxpayers expense. Maybe there will be some motivation to ensure that the courts are just and they don't put innocent people in jail and destroy their lives.

How about at the scumbag politician, prosecutor, and judges expense? It wasn't the taxpayer who put them in there.

[Justin D]

Good way to get people to do jury service - threaten them with a money judgment if they return a verdict in error based on false evidence. Yes, jury nullification at work.

If the evidence is false, then the jury shouldn't be held liable. The people who fabricated it should be. If the prosecutor and judge knew as well, them too.

Edit: some juries just think people are bad because the "criminals" don't do everything the state supports. If the prosecutor starts throwing words in there like "conspiracy", or "evasion", this makes anyone seem criminal.

There actually was a case where a contractor paid workers in silver eagles. He tried to write the face value down for income tax. The prosecutor loved to use these "skunk words" in the court case. The contractor was found guilty of something with "conspiracy" in the description. Obviousely, the jury sympathized with the IRS.