Networked Knowledge - Media Report

This version of the report has been prepared by: Dr Robert N Moles

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On 23 October 2007, Dawson Bell of the Detroit Free Press reported "Michigan Bill would compensate people exonerated by DNA"

Michigan would join a growing number of states that offer compensation to wronglyconvictd criminals who are freed on the basis of DNA testing, under legislation aired in a state House committee on Tuesday. Leaders of the Innocence Project at Cooley Law School in Lansing told members of the House Judiciary Committee that under current law the wrongly convicted inmates receive far less assistance than other inmates when they are released from custody and that they are often ill-equipped to handle life on the streets.

The proposal calls for compensation of $50,000 for every year spent behind bars, plus repayment for expenses, lost wages and medical care. The committee also heard testimony from two men, one who served eight years on death row, whose convictions were overturned based on DNA evidence that was tested after their original convictions.

Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, sponsor of the proposed compensation law, said the cost to taxpayers would be relatively small because there would be very few ex-inmates eligible. But the small cost needs to be balanced against the “immeasurably huge injustice” a wrongly convicted inmate has suffered, Bieda said. No vote was taken on the legislation Tuesday. Judiciary Committee Chairman Paul Condino, D-Southfield, sponsor of companion bills to broaden the DNA testing law, said he planned to bring them up again at a later date.  

The Cooley Innocence Project has received inquiries from 3,500 inmates since the 2001 DNA testing statute was enacted. Appeals have been initiated in more than a dozen cases since then, with two convictions overturned.

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