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Miami Herald
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
DeSantis should sign bill to fix wrongful conviction law and compensate victims
Editorials DeSantis should sign bill to fix wrongful conviction law and compensate victims | Opinion Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tallahassee on March 4, 2025. mocner@ After years of trying, the Florida Legislature successfully passed a bill to make it easier for those who are wrongfully imprisoned to receive compensation. Senate Bill 130 and its companion House Bill 59 were passed unanimously by both the House and Senate. Now the bill awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature to become law. The bill is a much-needed fix for wrongful compensation legislation that was passed in 2008. The Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act allows people who are wrongfully convicted to receive compensation of $50,000 for every year behind bars. But a 'clean hands' requirement in that law says exonerees with more than one nonviolent felony on their previous record must seek legislative action in order to be eligible for compensation. SB 130 eliminates that provision. Florida is the only state with this sort of clean hands provision. The state makes a distinction between individuals wrongfully convicted: those with clean records and those without. The former receives compensation while the latter must jump through hoops to receive the compensation they deserve. That is neither fair nor just. A past criminal record shouldn't stop you from qualifying for compensation if you were wrongfully incarcerated for something else. If the state mistakenly took your liberty, the least it can do is give you some money as compensation. The bill that passed the Legislature this year also extends the window to file for compensation from 90 days to two years. The extension of time is needed. The 90-day window — which starts on the day a person's conviction is vacated — could easily run out if the person doesn't have a lawyer or if there's delay in officially dropping the charges once the conviction is vacated. So even if someone was wrongfully convicted, they could lose the chance to apply for compensation. The executive director for the Innocence Project of Florida, Seth Miller, explained that 'the bill extends that statute of limitations from 90 days to two years, which gives people substantial time to petition for compensation. And that two years runs not from when their conviction is vacated, but rather when the case is fully resolved.' For individuals who have spent years behind bars for a crime they didn't commit, this change offers a pathway to justice. Broward County resident Sidney Holmes had his conviction overturned after serving 34 years for armed robbery. Under the clean hands rule, Holmes wasn't entitled to automatic compensation, because he had two prior armed robbery convictions. He was only able to receive compensation under what's known as a claims bill, which must be approved by the Legislature and can take years. As the current law stands, it is failing the people, such as Holmes, who were wrongly sent to prison. DeSantis has an opportunity to fix that issue. Since 1989, 91 people have been exonerated in Florida, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, but only five individuals have received compensation since the current law was enacted. Florida's efforts to amend the law in the past have stalled because of changes in legislative leadership. 'Every time we got close, the leadership would turn over,' Miller said. 'All the work you've done over the course of two or four years to educate the people in the Legislature about why this is important — you would kind of have to start over.' While monetary compensation cannot give back years lost or birthdays missed, the state has a moral obligation to do what it can to make up for a mistaken incarceration. Money isn't enough, but it's a start. By signing the bill into law, DeSantis will signal the importance of government accountability. For Holmes and other Floridians who have faced an uphill battle to receive compensation for the years they lost due to wrongful convictions, the amendment makes it easier to get what they should be entitled to. It's an overdue correction to an existing law. DeSantis must not delay in signing the bill. Click here to send the letter. BEHIND THE STORY MORE What's an editorial? Editorials are opinion pieces that reflect the views of the Miami Herald Editorial Board, a group of opinion journalists that operates separately from the Miami Herald newsroom. Miami Herald Editorial Board members are: opinion editor Amy Driscoll and editorial writers Luisa Yanez and Isadora Rangel. Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right. What's the difference between an op-ed and a column? Op-Eds, short for 'opposite the editorial page,' are opinion pieces written by contributors who are not affiliated with our Editorial Board. Columns are recurring opinion pieces that represent the views of staff columnists that regularly appear on the op-ed page. How does the Miami Herald Editorial Board decide what to write about? The Editorial Board, made up of experienced opinion journalists, primarily addresses local and state issues that affect South Florida residents. Each board member has an area of focus, such as education, COVID or local government policy. Board members meet daily and bring up an array of topics for discussion. Once a topic is fully discussed, board members will further report the issue, interviewing stakeholders and others involved and affected, so that the board can present the most informed opinion possible. We strive to provide our community with thought leadership that advocates for policies and priorities that strengthen our communities. Our editorials promote social justice, fairness in economic, educational and social opportunities and an end to systemic racism and inequality. The Editorial Board is separate from the reporters and editors of the Miami Herald newsroom. How can I contribute to the Miami Herald Opinion section? The Editorial Board accepts op-ed submissions of 650-700 words from community members who want to argue a specific viewpoint or idea that is relevant to our area. You can email an op-ed submission to oped@ We also accept 150-word letters to the editor from readers who want to offer their points of view on current issues. For more information on how to submit a letter, go here.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New bid begins to amend Florida's restrictive compensation law for the wrongfully incarcerated
Republican state Rep. Traci Koster via Florida House In 2008, Florida became one of the first states in the nation to create a framework to provide financial compensation for individuals wrongfully convicted of a crime. The legislation called for eligible exonerees to receive $50,000 for each year they were wrongfully incarcerated. Since then, just a handful of exonerees have received such compensation, due to a 'clean hands' provision in state law that bans people who have had earlier unrelated felonies from filing a compensation claim — the only such restriction of its type in the country. Tampa Bay House Republican Traci Koster has attempted in the past three sessions to get the Legislature to remove that 'clean hands' provision, to no success. She's back again for 2025, and her proposal (HB 59) passed unanimously in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday. In addition to removing the clean-hands language, Koster told lawmakers the bill would extend the filing deadline for those who have been exonerated from 90 days to two years, and would give those individuals the choice to receive compensation through either a civil lawsuit or through the Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, 'rather than forcing an exoneree to waive their right to file a civil lawsuit.' Koster emphasized that she believes in Florida's criminal justice system, but acknowledged the damage that can result when the state does get it wrong. 'We are still the only ones who can convict and, if we mess up, we need to make it right,' she said. She added that her bill isn't attempting to change the 2008 law but simply to make it easier for those who were wrongly incarcerated by the state to be compensated as intended. Since passage of that law, only five exonerees have received compensation while 19 have been forced to give up the $50,000 for each year they were unfairly incarcerated, according to the Innocence Project. Among those who missed out was Robert DuBoise, who served 37 years on rape and murder charges but was exonerated in 2020 by the Conviction Review Unit of the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office after DNA evidence testing excluded him as the perpetrator. However, the clean-hands provision of state law precluded him from being eligible for compensation because of two nonviolent property felony crimes which resulted in probation when he was a teenager. He ended up suing the city of Tampa in federal court in 2021 and, ultimately, the city council approved a $14 million settlement for him in 2024. The Florida Senate passed a similar proposal unanimously during the 2023 session, but Koster's bill never made it to the House floor that year. Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart praised the 2025 legislation that came before the House committee on Wednesday, and said she hopes it becomes law. 'I could not be happier to see this bill go all the way to the floor and to the governor's desk,' she told Koster. 'All I'm doing is opening a door that is barely cracked for these folks,' Koster said. 'And I'm just trying to open it a little wider. And since getting elected it has become my mission to get this across the finish line.' Koster's measure has two more stops in the House before it has a chance to get before the entire chamber this year. Northeast Florida Republican Jennifer Bradley has filed a companion bill in the Senate (SB 130). SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
