How innocent people get screwed twice in Michigan!

It’s true! A couple of good news/bad news examples. 

The good news: our state legislators adopted a law in 2017 offering compensation of $50,000 per year to victims of wrongful convictions. 

The bad news: the measure is so vague that some of the people who deserve this money cannot collect it. 

The good news: Michigan ranks fifth in the country when it comes to reversing convictions. 

The bad news: About one-quarter of the people exonerated have been denied payment. 

When that bill was passed in 2017, some lawmakers boasted about the state’s generosity…as if $50,000 for every year spent behind bars was even adequate. How does one put a cost figure on trying to get started again with no family, no home, no job prospects, no driver’s license, etc., etc.? 

Now, I’m wondering if some of these lawmakers had their tongue in cheek, adopting a law whose narrow criteria and confusion over eligibility left former prisoners facing another system that seems stacked against them. The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization, says “…the measure is so vague that state supreme court justices have urged legislators to fix it.” 

Anna Clark, writer for Pro Publica, another nonprofit news organization, recently featured a couple of cases to prove that point. 

Marvin Cotton, Jr., whose murder case was overturned in 2020, had spent nearly 20 years behind bars for something he didn’t do. 

Dennis Tomasik, was sentenced to prison on a charge of sexual abuse of a minor. Nine years later, in a new trial, the truth came out and he was released. 

Both of these guys walked out flat broke. But, their hopes were high because of this new law. 

Cotton Filed his claim. No soap! The Michigan attorney general’s office challenged it, contending that it did not fit neatly into the parameters set out by the Wrongful Conviction Compensation Act. 

Similar story for Tomasik. State officials contested it, and the courts backed them up. Didn’t fit into the parameters of the act. 

Pro Publica quotes Cotton’s response: 

“You fight for years to prove your wrongful conviction was actually wrong, And then immediately, when you step out, you pick up this new war, and you’re constantly trying to prove yourself again.” 

Tomisak, now 60 years of age, says he has nothing saved for retirement. He and his wife are on Medicaid, and he earns money by doing repair jobs on snowmobiles and dirt bikes. “I live at the lowest means I can possibly live on and survive,” he told Pro Publica. 

So, here’s what we have, ladies and gentlemen. First the state screws up by wrongly convicting these men and women. Then, it adds insult to injury by fighting to deny them dollars that would help them rebuild their lives. 

2024 is the year to get that straightened out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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