Convicts, Innocence and Compensation

Factual Questions
1

Three questions. Do all convicts get compensation (translation money) if they are convicted, incarcerated then found to be innocent?

Looking at it from the wronged person I can see that point, but on the other hand if the state presented an honest case, didn’t plant any evidence etc, and a properly chosen jury decided, I can see that too.

What if someone takes a plea bargain? Ok you admit to manslaughter than risk the death penalty on a first degree murder charge. Then you are found thru say DNA evidence to be not guilty. Do you get compensation?

Lastly could a victim sue the state if this happened. Say John Smith gets convicted. So the police have there man but James Doe did it and kills three more people. Then John Smith is found to be not guilty and James Doe did the original crime John was sent to prison for. Could a victim claim the state should not have convicted the incorrect person
and therefore should have been looking for the real killer. If they had maybe the others wouldn’t have been killed.

2

It varies. Some states allow compensation for people who are wrongfully convicted. In Alabama, for example, state law allows a panel to award up to $50,000 a year for each year of wrongful incarceration, and the legislature can award an even higher sum if the panel recommends. Other states don’t even offer an apology. If you want to sue them for money you probably would have to file what’s called a 1983 case for deprivation of your civil rights, and you’d have to show more than just that you were wrongfully convicted. You’d have to show that the conviction and incarceration was the result of unreasonable action and bad faith on the part of the state that arose to the level of a constitutional or federal rights violation, a pretty high standard.