Compensation

Hi. I thought I would pass along some relevant articles that I find. The interesting thing about the following AP article is the similarites to John Stoll and the others in our film. John did get compensation from the state (he was the only person in our film to get this kind of compensation.) Some of the others won civil suits and others got nothing. Regardless, there is an amazing commonality among the wrongly convicted that I've met. They are not bitter! Can you imagine? I'd like to think that I'd be that way too...

Check it out...


Georgia set to pay back wrongly imprisoned manThe Associated Press - ATLANTA
A man wrongly imprisoned nearly 25 years for rape is set to get a $1.2 million payback from the state.
On Monday, the Georgia House will consider paying Robert Clark that much in restitution for his time in prison for a 1981 attack before DNA evidence cleared his name two years ago.
The resolution, by Rep. Larry O'Neal, a Republican from Warner Robins, says the Atlanta man's imprisonment "occurred through no fault or negligence on the part of Mr. Clark, and it is only fitting and proper that he be compensated for his loss."
The state Claims Advisory Board, the first panel to hear requests for restitution from the state, heard Clark's case last month and recommended that the Legislature pay him.
Secretary of State Karen Handel, the board's chairwoman, said she was moved by Clark's demeanor when he made his case.
"What I am so struck about you is that you sit there and you're smiling. You are amazing _ really," she said before the board's vote.
After the vote, she hugged Clark and held his hand as she spoke privately with him.
"She was very touched that this man, who should probably be bitter to the world, was not," Handel spokeswoman Vicki Gavalas said Friday.
The board left the amount of restitution up to the Legislature. The $1.2 million is based on the income Clark lost while imprisoned, personal injury, injury to his reputation and other damages.
Clark, now 46, had no prior felony convictions. He was the 197th person nationally and the sixth in Georgia to be cleared by DNA evidence of a criminal conviction, according to The Innocence Project, a New York-based group that works to overturn wrongful convictions.
"Just rebuilding a life is so difficult," said Lisa George, spokeswoman for the Georgia Innocence Project. "It's gratifying to know that the Georgia House of Representatives is seeing the problem, listening to the need and responding."
George said the $1.2 million check may sound like a lot, but that when Clark's losses are considered it's really not.
Clark was a 21-year-old house painter when he was arrested. "If he'd just kept doing that from the day he was arrested to the day he got out of prison, his hard-dollar losses were over $1 million," she said.
Under the restitution plan, Clark will get monthly checks from the state over the next 15 years totaling about $80,000 per year. The checks will still be subject to federal taxes.
Last year, the Legislature agreed to pay $1 million over 20 years to Clarence Harrison, another Georgia man who was freed after a wrongful imprisonment.
O'Neal, who argued Clark's case before the claims board, invited him to attend the House vote Monday. George said Clark _ who told the claims board he's been "struggling a little bit on and off" since his release in December 2005 _ is now working a construction job, but is trying to get time off to attend.
She said Clark has received a couple of job promotions since starting work last year and hopes to become a crane operator.
"His attitude has been great," said George, who said Clark still stops by the Innocence Project office for visits. "He'll be covered in concrete dust from head to toe, as filthy as he can be, and smiling just like the day he walked out of prison."
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