Former Death-Row Inmate Would Get $1.9 Million

[MountainLaurel]

Virginia officials have agreed to pay $1.9 million to a man who spent 17 years in prison -- including more than nine on death row -- for a rape and murder he did not commit, officials said yesterday.

If the settlement is approved by the court, it will bring an end to years of legal battles that arose from one of the nation's most troubling instances of a wrongful conviction. Earl Washington Jr., a farmworker who is mildly mentally retarded, once came within days of execution. He was exonerated in 2000 by DNA tests.

Washington, 46, has since married and lives in Virginia Beach. He earns a modest salary working as a maintenance man.

"This will give Earl protection, security and comfort, and it's just about time for that," Robert T. Hall, one of Washington's attorneys, said yesterday. Washington declined to comment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032702240.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Good

the state will pay for making his life a living hell

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Less than $120,000 per year

for enduring a nightmarish existence that was scheduled to culminate in his execution by the State - all for crimes he knew he hadn't committed.

I'd say the Commonwealth of Virginia got off easy.

[MountainLaurel]

3. Indeed

Especially since one of the conditions of this deal is that he drops an attempt to get redress directly from the estate of one of the people whose dishonesty got him convicted.

[Joanne98]

4. good