GoatRodeo
36873
887
15
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-us-inmate-exonerated-oklahoma_n_66bce2b6e4b03da4fc01c624
Aug 14, 2024 11:21 PM
GoatRodeo
36873
887
15
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-us-inmate-exonerated-oklahoma_n_66bce2b6e4b03da4fc01c624
WenTheEternallySurprised
While Apple and Samsung sue for billions over differences in phones that even experts have trouble seeing.
DocTanner
That's only $140k a year. Dude spent an entire working lifetime in prison and they don't even have the decency to give him a senior-management salary.
AgamemnonsMemes
0.14 per year lol, not even close enough
Kurchak
"Moving forward" at 71 yo. This man has nothing, he lost his entire life behind bars... So sad.
Affray
That's barely over $140,000 per year he was in jail. Hardly seems appropriate.
butcherfan0301
Honestly, the settlement amount is almost irrelevant. The guy spent 50 years behind bars. His life is gone. Yes, he can live comfortable for the rest of his life; but how much life is left for him? 10 years? Maybe 20? And this isn't prime of your life years either. These are 'i can't go up stairs anymore cause my knees hurt too much' years.
banjak
Meanwhile Defamation, Libel and Slander cases can get hundreds of $MILLIONS for basically hurty words.
unluckyandbored
They stole his life. No amount of financial compensation can make up for that.
shadowstom1
This. How depressing...
Justawanderinggoat
7.15 mill / 17,568 days = $16.96/hr.
Fuck that.
TheRedBaron8
Uh there should be a zero behind that seven
Or crazy though how about a million dollars for every year for loss of wages and interest.
AnonOmis1000
Ok I'm so glad he wasn't executed, but how the fuck is someone on death row for 50 years?
dohcohv
Sentence was converted to life in prison
sbro11
imagine who many innocent ppl they have executed. Failed judicial system AF.
DYLANLEE79
One of the reasons the death penalty should be abolished.
OliverOtter
The only reason he got exonerated was he was on death row. If he'd been sentenced to life he probably would've spent more than 50 years in jail and died there, still considered guilty. What we need is quality control in the legal process. Make sure those who are convicted, from mass murder to jaywalking, are actually guilty, or let them go. If they are guiilty, and it's a capital crime, fry 'em.
ImaginaryMamboNumber5
There is quality control built in, but the police in this case felt the need to circumvent that. By lying about aspects of his case he was falsely imprisoned and if it had been a capital crime he would have been killed. Because the police lied in a way that was not identifiable in court at the time.
IMO the death penalty should not exist because there is always a non zero chance the judicial system can be wrong or be subverted.
SwashbucklingForJustice
Oklahoma is a seething, racist backwater.
CogentMoment
They'll just find a reason to shoot him once he's out.
RenaissanceFaireMan
Roberts was released 16 years ago and this guy was still in jail? Probably because he didn't show remorse...still claimed his innocence.
cakeycakeszilla
This makes me so incredibly sad. This man lost his whole life.
Shadowroxas870
Only 7 fucking million. Those bitches owe this man some bitches.
Cthulhuonabike
That equates to approximately $145,600/year compensation. Money that should come out of the precinct that arrested him and the AG office that prosecuted him, but instead will be paid by state taxes
GoatRodeo
Yep
misterCT
$7M Seems wayyyy fucking low
NiftyGoblin
if they can prove that the detective and police's actions were purposeful and malicious, they should have to serve the amount of time that he was in prison themselves.
jargonmon
Before I even scrolled down, I knew. Didn't even have to read "Oklahoma"
Drives11
Imagine loosing half you life for something you didn't even do. No amount of money would ever make up for the time you lost.
thesameasyours
maybe 7 million per year he spent in jail
skookumchucker
Or at least $1 million per year, sounds like a good middle ground to me
hybridgorilla3131
this is the lowest id be ok with. lowest.
NullNameAvailable
Admittedly, about 145k/yr (7mil/48yrs) is like 3 times the median annual income currently.
Not that ANY sum of money can take the place of nearly 5 decades of life behind bars (wrongly or otherwise), but keep the scale in mind.
thesameasyours
Medien income, multiply it by 24 hours a day 7 dats a week, plus dustress
NullNameAvailable
Given the expected earnings of the average person over that time span, with all possible side hustles, it's STILL 3 times the income for any other average middle-income American over that time frame. And SIGNIFICANTLY outpaces lower income potential by a gargantuan margin. No, I don't agree it's right, but Jesus wept - many people couldn't make that in 100 years in the US, let alone in 48.
gypsyspot
the point should not be to back pay his potential earnings. That's a strange thing to compare or attempt to compensate for 50 years of dehumanization, violence, and lack of freedom of nearly all types. This should hurt the city more, and it should hurt the cops and DA specifically. The system failed again. egregiously. 3x median salary isn't enough
PyllyNalleMissionaries
To put the time he spent in jail into context: he was jailed around the time when the Vietnam war was ending
GoatRodeo
Omg great point t
Aaaurelius
This is why we don't support the death penalty.
dbox
This is why I don't hope people get raped in prison.
GoatRodeo
Yep
Nomestoo
How much did he really get once the Lawyers got their money! I hope he lives in peace and harmony with the people who never doubted his innocence for the rest of his days.
bob72012412
Contingency is usually 33% to up to 40% in traffic cases
Kbantar
How could anyone not doubt his innocence. After years, you may allow doubt to creep in just to save your sanity letting hope die so you could move on. Harsh but I could understand that. 50 years is an eternity to keep hope alive.
PectorialMuscles
I mean... It's the US justice system. How can we not doubt every sentence it passes? Having an vetted alibi is pretty fucking solid evidence.
Kbantar
I can't even imagine. It's so outside my personal experience that I wouldn't judge anyone harshly for letting go or falling into a mind destroying rage or just about anything else.
SwissScars
Who decides the amount of training the American Police get? Is this consistent across States in any way
pleaseconsiderthatImightbejoking
No
Hevach
It's usually decided by the state but several leave it up to the municipality overseeing the department and in those states someleave it up to the department. Training ranges from as high as six months to as low as three hours. And even where it's high that's not always created equal, as many of the longest training programs focus heavily on firearms, use of force, tactical/CQC, and vehicular pursuit, with constitutional rights training usually waiting until they meet an informed citizen.
Hevach
In my own state of you take out all that violence training, what's left is less than I got as a safety officer in an engine factory. Hell fast food cashiers get better de-escalation training than most cops.
CanOnlySayYes
I’m sorry what? 3 HOURS?!
Hevach
It came up last year in one of those "unfortunate and unavoidable" tragedies that so often come up when talking about police training. When the media asked questions about training they were told the deputy had completed his 3 hour mandatory training and the oathkeeper sheriff only hired 2nd amendment advocates so the department didn't need to waste money on force training.
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
and yet again the taxpayers have to pay for the malfeasance of police and prosecutors. They should all be in jail, serving his sentence.
NekoKamiGuru
Most of the judges and DAs that put him in prison to begin with were probably old men at the end of their career , and since that was 50 years ago they are most likely long dead.
mindstorm8191
I hope someday soon that corporations and big businesses realize that if cops weren't creating so many lawsuits in their negligence & carelessness, their local taxes would be a whole lot less
hsalonen3000
Why the taxpayers need to pay? Take money from the actual police detectives, who investigated this crime, prosecutor who prosecuted and judge who sentenced.
Isthe4thtimethecharm
How about the actual murderer who most likely got away with it at this point. Good chance that person died without ever facing consequences.
Dontstopbelever2000ismyfavoritesoap
Unfortunately the police, either through laziness or malfeasance, managed to take a second life in this case. The justice system wields tremendous power and should be held to a much higher standard than it currently is
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
and because of that, they should face far harsher penalties and punishments than the average person would face. Because while the average
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
person can lie and deceive, they do not have the weight of government and the authority that brings to give false legitimacy to their lies
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
like police and prosecutors have. Act as a public servant, and betraying the public trust, should be an automatic 20 year sentence, on
Flareside
Sadly I would rather my taxes go to him than some of the shithead project our politicians come up with
Gerokeymaster
The problem is, it's 7 million that they weren't planning on spending, and it almost certainly *won't* come out of some politician's pet project, and it *certainly* won't come out of the police budget/funding, instead, it'll most likely come out of funds that would otherwise be earmarked to do things like build a park, or fix roads, or improve a neighborhood. What we really need is a complete reworking of qualified immunity, so that when stuff like this happens, it comes out of the pockets of /1
Gerokeymaster
the people who *actually* wronged the innocent party, rather than slash funding that would help make their home a safer, happier place where what happened to them would be less likely to happen again.
KillingTlme
Your taxes went to him for 50 years and now anothe 7 million. In the meantime, everyone else involved retired with a sweet plan.
impotence
Good thing they have enough money out of you for both! And if not, you'll just be taxed more.
GrosseChung
That’s not how it works… that’s not how any of this works
impotence
Sarcasm is lost on you isn't it. Welcome to the Internet, get used to it eventually.
freshthrowaway1138
Sarcasm only works when you are a good enough author to transmit the necessary information that you are being sarcastic. In the end, you are a bad writer because other people didn't pick up on your sarcasm. Perhaps you should get better before you start dismissing others.
GrosseChung
If anything you’re the one who doesn’t seem to understand it…