{"id":7575,"date":"2018-03-26T13:40:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/tennessee-pays-former-inmate-1m\/"},"modified":"2018-03-26T13:40:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:40:14","slug":"tennessee-pays-former-inmate-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/pl\/article\/tennessee-pays-former-inmate-1m\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee p\u0142aci by\u0142emu wi\u0119\u017aniowi $1M"},"content":{"rendered":"

61-year-old Lawrence McKinney initially received just $75 when his 1978 conviction was finally overturned<\/a> in 2009. Upon reconsideration, a reluctant Tennessee Board of Claims approved the maximum $1 million payment.<\/p>\n

When he was just 22 years old, Mr. McKinney received a 115-year sentence for his alleged role in the brutal double rape of a Memphis woman. Almost exactly thirty years later, DNA evidence conclusively established that Mr. McKinney was not in the woman\u2019s bed on the night in question. Based on this evidence, a judge set aside his conviction and ordered his release. At the time, he received $75, about a half cent for every day he spent in prison. Mr. McKinney said it took him three months to cash the check because he had no ID.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Mr. McKinney asked the parole board to overturn the conviction. But the committee unanimously voted against him. One member admitted that he ignored the DNA evidence and instead relied on the victim\u2019s eyewitness identification, because \u201cthe victim\u2019s descriptions to police matched McKinney\u2019s description, to a tee.\u201d \u00a0A year later, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam pardoned Mr. McKinney. That decision enabled him to apply for odszkodowanie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The state paid roughly a third of the money upfront; the remainder will come in $3,350 monthly installments for the next ten years.<\/p>\n

Damages for Wrongful Incarceration<\/strong><\/p>\n

As this story illustrates, in many locations, wrongfully-convicted persons must fight hard for compensation. Roughly half the states in America have no laws whatsoever on the subject. In Tennessee, only persons who receive executive pardons are eligible for compensation. Even then, the statute of limitations is just one year.<\/p>\n

New York, in contrast, has a very progressive<\/a> victim compensation law. Wrongfully imprisoned individuals have two years to file financial claims based on any one of the following:<\/p>\n