Wrongfully Imprisoned... What Should You Get?

Man imprisoned for rape he didn't commit to get $5 million

The Connecticut legislature voted unanimously Wednesday to give $5 million to a man imprisoned for more than 18 years for a rape he did not commit, then gave him a standing ovation.

Moved by James C. Tillman's humbleness and lack of bitterness, lawmakers said they hoped the money will let him live the rest of his life in relative comfort.

Tillman, who was 26 when he was arrested, was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being convicted of raping and beating a woman in Hartford in 1988. The victim identified him, but Tillman was exonerated last summer after DNA tests showed he could not have been the attacker.

www.cnn.com...

I'm not sure about my feelings on this one.

Is 5 million fair, not enough? I guess I'd have to ask what kind of life would he have been living if not imprisoned, should he have only been awarded the amount he'd earned working?

I can't imagine being put in jail for something I didn't do, heck going to jail / prison in general scares me to death.

I don't even think 5 mil covers it but I guess its a start and spending time behind bars on a sex crime you did not commit must be one of the worst things to go through. I personally would not trade years of my life in jail being thought of as a rapist for a 5 million because I assume the mental trauma would be to much to bear especially not knowing if you will ever be exonerated of the crime.

They need to give him enough to recieve $1 million a year from interest alone.

You can't provide a sum the 'he might have made'.......who knows what he may of accomplished had he not been accused and convicted.

$5 million should last quite sometime as long as there is not needless spending. At least the courts are not making him pay for the room and board provided by the state.

What I want to know is should the accuser get penalized for taking away 18 years of this mans life?

Originally posted by ferretman2
What I want to know is should the accuser get penalized for taking away 18 years of this mans life?

Good point... it's a wonder that the accuser doesn't have to pay some sort of restitution to him.

I suppose it depends on how and why the individual was wrongfully accused (I am extrapolating out of the case you cited into generalities).

If it is a case of prosecutor misconduct or the ignoring/burying/fabricating of evidence then they deserve more then an individual who was wronfully accused during an honest, yet blurry, trial.

Prosecutor misconduct and the ignoring/burying/fabrication of evidence is far too common a practice. Perhaps granting the wrongfully accused a greater sum of money and firing and fining those responsible for conscious misconduct would preassure the state to cut down on this type of activity.

Just my two cents.