29-04-2025
Scott Maxwell: Florida's wrongfully convicted deserve compensation
There's an old expression that no man's life, liberty or property is safe when the Legislature is in session.
In Florida, classic literature, endangered wildlife and free speech are also often at risk.
But today, I want to give credit to something good going on in Tallahassee — a proposal to automatically compensate people who've been wrongfully convicted. This concept is basic and way overdue, especially in a state with such a rotten track record for convicting the wrong people.
Florida has one of the worst records for wrongful convictions, yet also some of the toughest restrictions on making amends.
Wrongful convictions: One of Florida's greatest shames
Theoretically, state law entitles anyone wrongfully imprisoned to $50,000 for every year of their life that was stolen. I suppose you can debate whether that's too much or not enough. I know I wouldn't trade my freedom for $50,000 a year.
But Florida's law also includes a provision that says the wrongfully convicted aren't automatically entitled to that compensation if they have other blemishes on their track record, including prior convictions for nonviolent felonies like drug possession.
That provision is incredibly devious. Why? Because one of the primary reasons people get wrongfully convicted in the first place is precisely because they have previous convictions. The cops are more likely to consider them a suspect, and a jury is more likely to convict them. Quite simply, these people are easy marks.
Also, this so-called 'Clean Hands' provision is really just an accountability dodge.
Imagine a comparable situation in your own life — a distracted driver rear-ending you at a traffic light, for instance. It would obviously be the rear-ender's fault. So consider how you would feel if that motorist and their insurance company refused to pay you for the damage simply because you had been at fault in a separate traffic accident years earlier. It would be a nonsensical non sequitur.
Yet previous convictions for unrelated crimes have prevented the vast majority of Florida's wrongfully convicted from ever getting the payments they deserve. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 91 people in Florida have been exonerated since 1989. Only five received compensation.
Bill Dillon is an example of this state's flawed system.
In 2008, the Brevard County resident was released from prison for a murder he didn't commit. DNA evidence proved Dillon wasn't a killer. The state's alleged expert that helped put him behind bars was debunked for being a fraud. And a jailhouse snitch admitted that a detective bullied him into lying about Dillon giving a confession.
Dillon was 21 when he was arrested and 49 when he was freed. The majority of his life had been stolen from him.
But because Dillon had two prior convictions when he was 19 years old — a DUI and the possession of a single Quaalude pill — Dillon wasn't entitled to automatic compensation.
Instead, he had to lobby the Legislature for years and didn't get the money he was owed until an influential former legislator championed his cause. Most other wrongfully convicted Floridians weren't so lucky.
I spoke to Dillon back when he was still fighting to get the money he was owed. He was a lot more gracious than I think I would've been. But he was also confused, saying: 'I just don't see why a DUI when I was 19 should have any effect on how they took 27 and a half years of my life.'
Maxwell: Unforgiving law creates new injustice
I wrote at the time that it was ridiculous that this state asks the wrongfully convicted to lobby for something they're clearly owed. And most people seemed to agree. Yet all these years later, nothing has changed.
Why? Because the wrongfully convicted don't have deep pockets or a well-paid lobbying corps. While powerful business interests can get bills passed with the blink of an eye, the plight of the meager is routinely neglected in Tallahassee.
However, finally this year — after more than a decade of lawmakers saying this law needs fixing — the Legislature is poised to act. Both chambers have advanced bills that would remove the so-called 'Clean Hands' provision, as well as an arbitrary rule that says compensation claims must be filed within 90 days of an exoneration.
Payouts for prison: Bills changing Florida law on money for wrongfully incarcerated head to House, Senate floors
SB 130 passed unanimously in the Senate, and its companion bill (HB 59) has advanced through House committees as well.
The only concern is that the bill still hasn't cleared the full House to advance to the governor. Despite bipartisan support, a month has passed since the last House committee took action.
It's time for the Legislature to seal the deal. (You can find the contact info for your legislators at
Refusing to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted is simply piling one injustice on another. As the House bill sponsor, Traci Koster, a Republican lawyer from Tampa, told her peers: ' … when we as a state get it wrong and incarcerate somebody and take away their liberty, then we as a state need to make it right.'
smaxwell@
