HB 397

Abstract

Compensation for wrongful incarceration. Modifies the formula for compensating wrongfully incarcerated persons to equal $55,000 per year of incarceration, adjusted for inflation, changes the amount of compensation that may be paid out as a lump sum to equal 25 percent of the total award with the remainder to be paid out as an annuity with a term of 10 years, provides that the General Assembly may pay to the wrongfully incarcerated person the amount of court costs and other charges incurred to receive the compensation, and allows a wrongfully incarcerated person who submitted an Alford plea to receive compensation for such wrongful incarceration. The bill also provides an income tax subtraction for any compensation awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated person. This bill is identical to SB 755.

Compensation for wrongful incarceration. Modifies the formula for compensating wrongfully incarcerated persons to equal $55,000 per year of incarceration, adjusted for inflation, changes the amount of compensation that may be paid out as a lump sum to equal 25 percent of the total award, with the remainder to be paid out as an annuity with a term of 10 years, provides that the General Assembly may pay to the wrongfully incarcerated person the amount of court costs and other charges incurred to receive the compensation, and allows a wrongfully incarcerated person who submitted an Alford plea to receive compensation for such wrongful incarceration. The bill also provides an income tax subtraction for any compensation awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated person.

Compensation for wrongful incarceration.Removes the following requirements for a wrongfully incarceratedperson to receive compensation for such wrongful incarceration: (i)that the person shall have entered a final plea of not guilty, or,regardless of the plea, the person incarcerated was convicted ofa Class 1 felony, a Class 2 felony, or any felony for which the maximumpenalty is imprisonment for life and (ii) that the person incarcerateddid not by any act or omission on his part intentionally contributeto his conviction for the felony for which he was incarcerated. The bill also requires the person to be compensated in an amount equalto the product of the total number of days that the person was wrongfullyincarcerated following a wrongful conviction multiplied by the dailyrate of the Commonwealth's most recent annual median household incomeas published in the American Community Survey of the United States Census Bureau in the year the court finds the claimant eligible anddivided by 365 days to the nearest whole cent, in addition to otherpossible compensation.