May 11 2009
Timothy Cole Act Passed by Texas Senate
The Innocence Project of Texas has just received word that the Tim Cole Act, a revision to the current compensation statute for Texas exonerees, has passed the Texas Senate. The bill, which previously passed the House, is now in the final stages of becoming law. The Austin Statesman reports:
Named for Cole, who was posthumously exonerated of a 1985 Lubbock rape after serving 13 years in prison, Senate Bill 1736 would provide compensation for family members of wrongfully convicted Texans and increases compensation levels for other exonerees.
“The Tim Cole case should serve as a wake-up call to Texas,” said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who sponsored the bill with Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. “It is time to get our house in order and enact reforms that, wherever possible, can help avert miscarriages of justice before they happen.”
Duncan agreed: “Tim Cole’s untimely death was not in vain. Criminal justice in Texas will be more fair and compensation for those wrongly convicted will be more adequate because the Legislature responded to Mr. Cole’s terrible and sad struggle.”
The bill will increase the lump sum compensation for all exonerees from $50,000 to $80,000 per year of incarceration, including time spent in city or county jail. Current compensation only applies to time in a state prison cell.
Under the measure, a person who receives a subsequent felony conviction loses their eligibility for compensation, as does current law.
The bill allows lump sum compensation of $25,000 per year spent on parole or registered as a sex offender.
The measure also allows the lump sum compensation to pass to the family in the event the innocent person dies before release, as Timothy Cole did. And it creates lifetime annuity payments to the exoneree based on a present value of the lump sum compensation, annuitized using a five-percent interest rate and payable in equal monthly installments using actuarial factors.
The bill also provides up to 120 hours of free tuition if the claimant desires to attend a state college.
Click here to read the rest of the Statesman’s blog entry.