Bill would pay wrongly convicted inmates

Legislation introduced Feb. 7 by Senate President Pro-Tem Michael R. Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, prioritizes payments to those exonerated by DNA and gives financial relief to exonerated inmates who did not qualify for payment for lost time because of time constraints set forth by law.

According to a Senate news release, Missouri adopted a compensation plan in 2003 to pay $50 per day incarcerated to individuals who are exonerated because of DNA evidence. However, the law exempts anyone exonerated prior to Aug. 28, 2003.

Gibbons said four innocent people have not been compensated for the lost years of their lives, and his bill would change that. The state of Missouri estimates that it owes an estimated $875,000 to the four individuals, one of whom is Steve Toney.

Toney spent 13 years and 10 months behind bars after being convicted of a rape that DNA evidence later proved he did not commit. He was exonerated in 1993.

“It is indefensible that a man lost almost 14 years of his life serving a sentence for a crime he did not commit, and the state of Missouri has not repaid him in any way for that loss of his liberty,” Gibbons said in the release. “When a DNA test proves a mistake was made, then the innocent person should receive relief.”

Under the original compensation plan, the total amount owed to an incarcerated individual was to be paid in annual payments not to exceed $36,500.

In 2005, the legislature approved installment payments to exonerated individuals when a court ordered a payment of more than $300,000, emptying the money set aside for exonerations.