Iowa wrongful death lawyer
In Nebraska, a state that doesn't have such compensation laws, White will get nothing, barring a successful lawsuit or change of heart by the state.
A survey of lawmakers on the eve of the 2009 legislative session found some sympathy but plenty of indecision for White and five co-defendants who were cleared in the 1985 murder of an elderly Beatrice, Neb., woman.
When asked if people wrongly convicted of crimes in Nebraska deserve financial compensation from the state for their time in prison, 12 lawmakers said yes and seven no. Twenty-one were undecided, and nine did not respond to the question.
"Thank God they weren't put to death,'' State Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah said of White and the others. Rogert is among those who believes White and the others should be compensated.
"I believe they at least have the right to be back in the financial position they were in before they went to prison,'' Rogert said.
The federal government, the District of Columbia and 25 states (including Iowa) have enacted laws entitling the exonerated to receive compensation from the government, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based group that helps win reversals of wrongful convictions.
Some states also provide help with college tuition, health insurance and job training.
In Nebraska, there is no law and the issue hasn't been debated in years.
It was revived because of the case of the "Beatrice 6,'' in which DNA tests not available in 1985 showed that another man committed the rape and murder. But it's unclear whether a bill will be introduced to compensate them.
Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said that he supports the idea but that he'll be too busy with other bills. Ashford said he didn't know of another lawmaker working on the issue.
His office, however, has been researching compensation, aided by the recently revived Nebraska chapter of the Innocence Project.
Omaha attorney Jeanne Burke, a board member of the Innocence Project, said her group favors $50,000 a year for each year spent behind bars -- twice that amount if the time was spent on death row. That is the standard of the federal government and three states, including tough-on-crime Texas.
The Innocence Project's model legislation also proposes 10 years of health insurance, aid for tuition or job training and temporary help with housing and transportation bills as a former inmate reintegrates into society.
"You certainly need some money to get up and going,'' Burke said.
Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln said compensation is "the right thing to do,'' but he was weighing if it should be money or in the form of job training or college.
White, now living in Alabama, said he would like to see both.