By Vanessa E. Curry

On paper, the list of names neatly aligned with corresponding six-figure dollar amounts simply reflects the monetary cost of rectifying the legal system’s worst nightmare.

The total tops $23.3 million, a combination of lump-sum payments and annuities awarded to the wrongfully convicted in Texas since 2020, according to a data obtained from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Burglary, sexual assault, indecency with a child, and murder convictions, all based on legal mistakes, false accusations or testimony, “junk” science, mistaken identity, or official misconduct.

Those convictions cost 26 people their freedom, some serving years or decades behind bars, while others faced life without parole, or, in one case, a death sentence.

They paid the price in other ways too — broken family relations or marriages, lost jobs, criminal records, and opportunities thwarted by their confinement.

“So, we have compensation and that’s wonderful, and thank God we do because they really need it, but it could never be enough,” Lubbock attorney Allison Clayton said. “You can never place a number on the things that these innocent people have lost.”

Clayton, who specializes in appellate and post-conviction litigation, also is the deputy director of Innocence Project of Texas, a non-profit organization that offers investigative and legal services to the wrongfully convicted.

Since it was founded in 2006, IPTX has contributed to the release and exoneration of 36 wrongfully convicted Texans.

Not only have these people missed out on life, Clayton says, they also are ill-prepared for a world unlike the one they left when they were incarcerated. The “things” people may take for granted today — like iPhones, Google, even computers — are foreign to them. They also may face a plethora of emotional or financial problems without a support system to help them, she said.

“Think about everything you’ve done, and I’ll say, ‘While you were out their living, this guy was in prison, just sitting … fighting for his life’,” Clayton added. “What are they going to do?”

Before anyone can even be considered for compensation, however, they must first be legally declared actually innocent — a task often described in the legal field as a “Herculean task.”

Clayton has been working to prove the innocence of Edward Ates, a former Smith County resident who served 20 years in prison. His murder conviction and 99-year sentence involved the 1993 stabbing death of Elnora Griffin in New Chapel Hill.

A jury in his first trial deadlocked 8-4, causing a mistrial. He was convicted in 1998 largely due to testimony from a jailhouse snitch who has since recanted, Clayton said.

Ates was paroled in 2018, but Clayton is still fighting to prove his innocence.

Compensation Process

Once officially exonerated, that person can then file for compensation with the state comptroller’s office. Officials there have 45 days to accept or reject it based on specific requirements.

If approved, the state comptroller must then calculate the exact compensation total (based on official prison records) and submit a list of claimants to state officials and legislators, according to state law.

At $80,000 per year of incarceration, Texas offers exonerees one of the highest rates paid by states in the United States, according to the National Innocence Project.

The comptroller’s office receives an average of six applications per year, with an overall approval rate of about 41%, according to information provided by Kevin Lyons, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office.

Exoneration is rare, but at least one former Smith County defendant has received compensation for his wrongful conviction and another one may be about to file.

A.B. Butler Jr. served 17 years in prison after his conviction in 1983 on an aggravated kidnapping charge stemming from the abduction and rape of a woman in Tyler. Although the victim identified Butler as her attacker, DNA tests excluded him as a suspect in 1999. He was later pardon by then Gov. George W. Bush. Butler received $27,854 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of about $7,727 a month, according to records.

Former death row inmate Kerry Max Cook is now eligible to apply for compensation after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals officially declared him innocent in June.

Cook, 68, spent more than 20 years in prison after a 1978 capital murder conviction involving the mutilation slaying of Linda Jo Edwards of Tyler. He experienced winning his appeal, two more trials (one mistrial and another conviction), another favorable appeal and accepted a plea agreement for time served before his conviction was set aside in 2016.

Cook has not filed for state compensation, Lyles said, but legally he has up to three years from the date of his exoneration to apply.

He may be eligible for an estimated $3.2 million lump sum payment and an annual annuity, if approved.

Lyons said the latter payment is based on the final lump sum and Cook’s life expectancy.

Identifying the Problem

For every name on the comptroller’s list, there is a story, most people would find appalling — stories involving real deception, lies, false testimony, or even mistaken identity that stole the freedom of innocent people.

It’s a problem a growing number of people are beginning to recognize as a serious issue, Clayton said.

In the past, wrongful convictions were commonly described as “someone got out on a technicality,” a point of view, Clayton said is based upon ignorance.

“You’ll still hear that … but now, with DNA we can conclusively prove this person is innocent,” she explained. “We have no doubt that this was a wrongful conviction. It’s not a technicality. This person was innocent, period.”

She says she has seen a shift in public opinion the past 10-15 years, especially in the younger generation who seem more educated about the problem and how prevalent it has become.

Clayton cited a 2016 study conducted by John Hopkins University that showed a 10% error rate for doctors despite all the resources available to them.

“The leading cause of death in America is doctors messing up,” Clayton said. “What is it (error rate) for attorneys? We don’t have all those things that doctors have, but we’re still human. We know we have to have a rate of error.”

To put it all in perspective, Clayton offered an example based on her own review of available information that showed 564,000 Texas convictions in 2022.

“If our rate of error is … 1% — which is insanely low, there’s no way it’s that low — at 1% you’re still looking at almost 6,000 wrongful convictions,” she said. “It’s a huge problem.”

Seeking actual innocence often is a long, difficult, and expensive journey — a process that relies upon diligent defense attorneys or non-profit organizations like IPTX, the New Jersey-based Centurion Ministries, and even law students to push through.

The names of those organizations appear often in the stories of Texas exonerees. But there are the names of prosecutors too, who may join the effort to right a wrong.

The creation of Conviction Integrity Units within the state’s five largest counties helped review wrongful convictions and actual innocence claims. Those units are part of the district attorney’s office in Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Travis counties.