Exonerated convicts ask Washington to pay up for lost time
SEATTLE -- Former prisoners who were found to be wrongly convicted are asking the state to compensate them for their lost time.
Three exonerated men and the law students who helped free them arrived in Olympia on Thursday to make their case.
Larry Davis served time for a rape he did not commit. It took 17 years, but Davis -- with help from the Innocence Project -- finally cleared his named.
"When you're innocent, you're innocent, and it will show," Davis said.
A team from the Innocence Project found DNA evidence that proved Davis was not the rapist, and now they're asking state lawmakers to compensate inmates $50,000 for every year lost in prison.
Alan Northrop was also wrongly convicted of rape and said the worst part of his ordeal was not being able to raise his kids. He, too, was set free when DNA evidence proved his innocence.
Another former convict, James Anderson, was exonerated after the Innocence Project helped him prove he was in California at the time of a robbery for which he served 5 years in prison.
"When I got released in Washington, no one apologized to me," Anderson said.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that is wrong.
"We think when the government makes a mistake, we should say we're sorry," he said.
Similar proposals to compensate exonerated prisoners have come up before, and while they've found support from lawmakers, no one has been able to find money in the state's tight budgets.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tina Orwall, hopes this will be the year the bill passes.
"I do have more hope this year," said the SeaTac Democrat. "I think there are a lot more people advocating for the bill."
Currently, only four former inmates would qualify for compensation, but the Innocence Project is working on a few dozen other cases for prisoners they believe are innocent.
Three exonerated men and the law students who helped free them arrived in Olympia on Thursday to make their case.
Larry Davis served time for a rape he did not commit. It took 17 years, but Davis -- with help from the Innocence Project -- finally cleared his named.
"When you're innocent, you're innocent, and it will show," Davis said.
A team from the Innocence Project found DNA evidence that proved Davis was not the rapist, and now they're asking state lawmakers to compensate inmates $50,000 for every year lost in prison.
Alan Northrop was also wrongly convicted of rape and said the worst part of his ordeal was not being able to raise his kids. He, too, was set free when DNA evidence proved his innocence.
Another former convict, James Anderson, was exonerated after the Innocence Project helped him prove he was in California at the time of a robbery for which he served 5 years in prison.
"When I got released in Washington, no one apologized to me," Anderson said.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that is wrong.
"We think when the government makes a mistake, we should say we're sorry," he said.
Similar proposals to compensate exonerated prisoners have come up before, and while they've found support from lawmakers, no one has been able to find money in the state's tight budgets.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tina Orwall, hopes this will be the year the bill passes.
"I do have more hope this year," said the SeaTac Democrat. "I think there are a lot more people advocating for the bill."
Currently, only four former inmates would qualify for compensation, but the Innocence Project is working on a few dozen other cases for prisoners they believe are innocent.
Now if Mr Dan Satterberg would stop prosecuting citizens for being assaulted By Cops, and get on board with the SPD and King County's meager efforts to deal with the fact we are second in the nation for protecting cops who abuse use of force, I would be a bit more impressed. http://www.facebook.com/events/501885959845258
Being convicted of a crime that you didn't commit must be an awful feeling but being convicted of a rape you didn't commit has got to be horrific. Convicted rapists are only a 1/2 step up from child molesters in the prison order and get preyed upon constantly. Compensate them and if the accuser deliberately lied go after them.
If our lawmakers are working on a budget they better bump the budget up a few billion more because obviously they are going to pass even more programs they have no money to pay for. I don't begrudge these men compensation, but to pass even more bills spending more money they don't have doesn't make sense.
To think some posters here have advocated for torturing people into admitting their guilt.
It's time to get back to innocent until proven guilty. Too often the presumed is presumed guilty and prosecuted as such. I had a relative spend four years in prison on false allegations. It's a horrible burden on family not only financially but emotionally as well.
We seen to have money for everything else...and this seems more "just and fair" than some of the other expenditures. If they can't do the cash, we could at least provide an annuity for their retirement years...something that would provide what the average person might have saved during that time.
While many are asking for increasing amounts of money, which I refuse to pay, this effort causes me to ponder.Â
In criminal law, Blackstone's formulation (also known as Blackstone's ratio or the Blackstone ratio) is the principle:
"better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" is closely tied to the presumption of innocence in criminal trials. An early example of the principle appears in the Bible (Genesis 18:23-32)
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Benjamin Franklin stated it as, "it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer".
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John Adams also expanded upon the rationale behind Blackstone's Formulation when he stated:
âIt is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished.Â
But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, "whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection," and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.
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Hey @Lisa you do raise a point the lack of proper representation through Public Defenders. They make sure of one thing that the proper paperwork get filed in a timely manner. They, for the most part, plea and encourage people to plea so that their HEAVY caseload moves quickly. While this may not be the 100% rule, it is 99.9% pure. This even goes deeper, the "Mr. Jones or Mr. Smith" that is accused of "touching me" and who's career is ended, the defamition of character that will follow a person forever. We need to better improve the representation someone gets in court when they can't afford an attorney. Only the rich can afford good legal representation and that is a wrong.
How about instead of a conversation about compensating the wrongly accused, we get more serious on due process when it comes to rape allegations? Why is it the word of a woman is often enough to throw someone in jail even when there's a serious lack of objective evidence? Why is is when these people are found innocent, the women who falsely accused them never have ramifications? Men who are merely accused of a crime like this have their mug and name plastered all over the media regardless of how innocent they are. Women who make up false claims don't even have their name released. We have let the SLUTwalk and feminist campaigns scare us into thinking the practice of due process and raising questions during a rape allegation is "victim blaming" and ant-female. We need to come back to common sense and stop letting these groups destroy the lives of innocent men.Â
 @Lisa You  say " the women who falsely accused" these innocent men. While that is true in some instances, a lot of women are also misidentifying their rapist, but still have been raped. Sometimes there is physical evidence, but no DNA evidence. Can you imagine being on that jury? The Innocence Project is clearly doing good by re-investigating old cases with new technology.Â
No, sorry, sometimes bad things happen to good people and nobody can prevent it or reverse it. Law enforcement and politicians aka The Government didn't wrongly convict them and shouldn't have to pay. A jury of their peers convicted them. There is 1) the defense attorney whose job it is to create enough doubt to prevent the accused from being convicted and sentenced, 2) the prosecuting attorney to get a conviction and a sentence, and 3) the jury to decide if the accused is still innocent or has been proven guilty, and 4) the judge to set the sentence if the jury decides the accused is guilty. There are specific roles, processes and rules that get followed intended to make the process happen correctly. It isn't a Benny Hill show and the taxpayers shouldn't pay for an exoneration.
@dontneedheels Washington Ranks second in the nation for protecting bad cops. Yes, the Government... Did convict them... State VS citizen... Learn your law. It is not what you think it is...
Trial is not what one thinks it is. Dayâs are spent tossing out jury members who would be sympathetic, ruling on what can and cannot be said, produced as evident, submitted, etc. Beside the point, it is damn rare to go to trial against the police as the public making up the jury, believe cops tell the truth on the stand, and the State prosecutorâs office only brings charges against people if they believe them to be guilty and have evidence to substantiate that claim. We pay a Lot in taxes to convict and punish, and lock up citizens. More than any other country on earth. King County Washington is one of The Worst in the Nation for protecting bad cops. The feds are forcing Seattle and the King County Sheriffs to address it. This is a fairly well done article on the statistics. http://www.policemisconduct.net/the-problem-with-prosecuting-police-in-washington-state/
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Why should taxpayers pay for the mistakes of our elected officials because of thier ineptness?? Im surprised that they are not required to carry some sort of compensation insurance just for these type of things. But what am I thinking, thats what we, the lackey tax-payers, are for. We pay for thier mistakes.Â
@Busyhands I was thinking the same thing, it's like malpractice insurance. or having a bond.Â
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Because they were convicted by a jury of their peers. There are many things that taxpayers are held liable for that wind up being complete crap, but this isn't one of them.Â
 @burton  Then make the jury members liable for the compensation. After all they were the ones to convict an innocent person.
 @timdog  @burton The State, sways the jury. You understand the jury only gets told what is approved... and it can not ask questions... We have given the "State" and Police too much power...
 @timdog  @burtonÂ
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They had a civic duty to be there, it wasn't a choice. It could be you next time.
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Would you like to split a $10,000,000 settlement bill a dozen ways, or 6.8 million ways?
For one person not even being in town when the crime occurred and still convicted is amazing. Who covered up his whereabouts? Was this fact ever presented to the jury? Just how did this fact get covered up? Why is not every rape or other crime not run through a DNA screening process? I know it cost money but no where near what it will cost to compensate these men for their lost lives. More needs to be done to protect the innocent and convict the guilty.Â
 @LongBeachBum Remember they have been in jail for 17 years which means the crime happened further back than that.. close to 20 years ago DNA testing was in it's infancy so it was expensive and not always accurate.
 @LongBeachBum That's why so many of us question rape allegations when they come out. Anytime people want due process, there's a large sum of people who call it "victim blaming." It's not victim blaming. It's the promotion of due process so the person accused is not a VICTIM. It's sad how we allow women to make false claims, present no objective evidence and literally let her word throw an innocent person in jail. Â
Instead of the taxpayers having to foot the bill, I say let the prosecutors pay for every innocent person that has been put away. Dan Satterberg you are not beyond reproach, pay the piper for it is due.
 @yentaleh Ah, Dan Satterberg is racking up more cases against citizens to protect our bad cops every month... day by day, we toss cash into our damaged system.
Gee Mr. Satterberg, thanks for saying your sorry. If us mere citizens are short on paying taxes, can we just say we are sorry, we were wrong. No we have to pay dearly. Why does Government think it should not be accountable for their mistakes. 17 years of life taken, I don't think you can fully compensate a person. But $50,000 is a start.
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"no one has been able to find money in the state's tight budgets". Well, you could just take the money you were going to have to spend on that persons incarceration.
@Alert Eagle I'm really sorry for what has happened to these people but "government" money is your money and my money. Do you want your taxes raised to pay this type of thing? Maybe there should be an insurance policy that the state has that pays out for this and we hold Prosecurtors accountable to preserve our money.
maybe there should be an insurance, but it seems pretty clear that there isn't. Am I thrilled about tax dollars having to pay, no I'm not. However, do I feel it is the right thing to do, yes I do.
 @Justaguy Yes, we do pay tax $ for such insurance policy's, many of them..
 @jellyfish Our taxes do not need to be raised, Government has plenty of our money. I get your point though, but as I stated above they would have to pay for their continued incarceration, so there is a little of an offset. When DSHS messes up we are on the hooks for millions, as we are for every Government incompetence, so these folks deserve to be compensated.
Sounds like a plan to me. However, if this is actually put into play, families of murder victims that died at the hands of criminals the state "released" for whatever reason should also get due compensation. With as many failures our department of justice has on their hands.......this could bankrupt the state completely.
I'm all for it as long as they take the money from the prosecutors office and law enforcement agency that convicted him. The tax payers shouldn't have to be paying these settlements on top of what we already pay to our law enforcement agencies.
 @Blindman That's what I'm thinking. The prosecutors and the judge. The police only arrest the person and then it is up to scumbag attorneys and prosecutors. And don't think for an instant that judges are impartial. They definitely steer cases.
These situations should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Â Was the wrongly-convicted plucked out of church simply because he matched a perp description? Â Or was he drunk-on-his-ass outside a strip club at closing time and sucked into something that went down nearby...?? Â We would guess these folks probably weren't "keeping their noses too clean..." and that's a risk one takes with that behavior. Â We always counseled our kids "Avoid even the appearance of guilt" and don't hang with anyone doing anything even remotely suspicious....
 @Biggg Donnn Never answer the door if it is a cop on the other side... That is all it takes. Mr. "Keep your nose clean". You could be anywhere at any time and a pissy cop, can, with no punishment, take your life away. ... I always counsel the kids, Remember you shoot a cop, it's life in prison, a cop shoots you, he gets a 2 week paid vacation while they fill out the paperwork. Sad but true...
@Biggg Donnn
You make some of the barmiest statements; reading some of your past post I not sure if you are serious or just trying to rile people.
 @Biggg DonnnÂ
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"Well, you didn't commit that murder after all. But since you look guilty, we'll lock you up anyway."
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Willfully punishing someone simply for appearing guilty? Your kind of society would be one deserving of the wrath of an angry god. Take a moment to compose yourself, then jump in a fire.
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 @Biggg Donnn Irrelevant.
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The "appearance of guilt" is not reason to justify prosecution or prison/jail time. DNA cleared this man, and he should be compensated.Â
 @Biggg Donnn Being convicted of a crime you didn't commit really isn't acceptable, even if people are behaving in a way you don't personally approve of. I find it truly baffling that you are actually suggesting that.
 @Biggg Donnn so if they were not acting 100% to your specifications.... screw 'em. Â
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gotcha.Â
The komo news comments sections is like a honey pot of derp.
 @T H I S  @Biggg Donnn Derp agrees.
 @Biggg Donnn I agree some of them may have long records for other crimes or not. Testing is better today than 17 yrs. ago. Why didn't their own lawyers fight harder if these students found evidence. Maybe their defense lawyers should own some of the blame also.
 @Blevnangels  @Biggg Donnn Obviously you have no experience with the legal defense system. You don't get an attorney , you get a paralegal. The attorney does nothing until the day of the trial. Then you see the difference in the budgets between the prosecution and the defense. Its a rigged legal system that favors those with money. A simple fix. Allow the defense to spend as much money as the prosecution gets to spend.
The state did not convict them a jury of their peers did. With my whole heart I'm sorry that an innocent human being went to prison, however it would be us tax payers footing the bill again.They were not the first and they will not be the last our system is not perfect. I would rather they get like 3,000 a month for a year to get their new life on track and give them a period of adjustment.
 @Blevnangels The state makes the decision to prosecute and prosecutes. It is on their dime, regardless of the outcome.
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A rape accusation and conviction is a very serious matter, and is a life-destroying event for everyone involved, ESPECIALLY for someone who is innocent.Â
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$36K for compensation? You've got to be joking me. They were WRONGLY incarcerated. 17 years of lost wages, lost time with family and children, ...shall I go on? Â
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 @Blevnangels The investigating officers should be held accountable as well. I have personal experience with law enforcement suppressing evidence that would exonerate and embellishing negative information that would improve the chances of conviction.Each of these cases that are overturned should be re-investigated and if there was dishonesty involved, the original investigator should pay a price.Â
 @noreaster That's what I'm thinking punish the wrong doers not the poor working tax payer, because nthat is who will pay for this in the end.
 @Blevnangels  @noreaster Unfortunately, what you're missing here is that former inmates who are found innocent are in a great position to sue the state for considerably more than $50,000 a year and often do.  This bill would give them this smaller sum and prohibit them from suing for more at a later date.  Ultimately, it ends up costing the state less than law suits AND it shows a certain amount of mercy and compassion for people who have been wrongly imprisoned and have all of the mental, physical, social, and economic issues that come from that. Â
It should be deducted from the Law Enforcement budget as it was their mistake.
Also they should be compensated for any property lost as well like real estate,cars,personal belongings etc.
@m9078jk3 Sorry, law enforcement and politicians didn't convict them. A jury of their peers did. There is 1) the defense attorney whose job it is to keep the accused from being convicted and sentenced, 2) the prosecuting attorney to get a conviction and a sentence, and 3) the jury to decide if the accused is innocent or proven guilty, and 4) the judge to set the sentence if the jury decides the accused is guilty.
 @dontneedheels  @m9078jk3 Not really how it works in real life, but it sounds good don't it...