Wrongfully Convicted Michigan Prisoners Wait for Compensation
Seven years after Michigan lawmakers adopted the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act (WICA)—and 17 years after state Sen. Steve Beida (D-Warren) began working to get it passed by a legislature then dominated by Republicans and signed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder (R)—a group of state lawmakers introduced legislation to close gaps in the law on February 7, 2024.
H.B. 3431 attempts to shore up WICA, which has left many former prisoners without compensation for their wrongful convictions. Though Michigan ranks fifth in the country for exonerations—with 169 wrongful convictions overturned in state courts since 1989 — WICA’s threshold requirement that the exoneration must be based on “new evidence” excludes many others that resulted from prosecutorial or police misconduct.
Marvin Cotton, 44, was one of those. A conviction integrity unit found that his trial was unfairly marred by police misconduct, resulting in key evidence withheld. Released after nearly 20 years of wrongful imprisonment, he filed a claim for $1 million—$50,000 per year, the amount that WICA allows. But the state fought paying him, pointing to the law’s narrow definition of “new evidence.” Cotton eventually settled for just $630,000.
Dennis Tomasik, 60, was another former prisoner denied WICA compensation. The former tool and die maker spent nine years in prison for sexually abusing a minor. After his conviction was tossed, a jury acquitted him on retrial. The state Supreme Court upheld the acquittal but didn’t find any “new” evidence. So the state denied him compensation, too—leaving Tomasik financially strapped and unable to retire.
Across the U.S., a broken patchwork of laws leaves many wrongfully convicted people struggling for financial justice. Only 38 states offer compensation. Wisconsin has a $5,000 cap per year of wrongful imprisonment; Texas provides $80,000. Michigan and other states deny claims to those who entered a guilty plea or had a previous conviction. For those who manage to qualify, time spent going through the process is burdensome. The average wait is 16.7 months but often stretches to four years or more.
State lawmakers have not created a dedicated source of funding for WICA payments, leaving the fund exhausted by 2020, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2020, p.20.] It then took a year for the legislature to provide another infusion, though only $7 million. The state has so far paid a total of $50 million, but that was enough to cover just 68% of those who filed claims.
Source: ProPublica
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