California officials say exoneree shouldn’t be compensated because he pled guilty

James Ochoa was 20 years old when he pled guilty to a carjacking he didn’t commit in order to avoid a 25-year-to-life sentence the judge threatened him with if he was convicted. With a guilty plea, he was sentenced to two years in prison. Ten months into his prison term, DNA evidence proved that another man committed the crime. Ochoa was released and exonerated.

Now Ochoa is seeking compensation under a law in California that grants about $100 per day of wrongful incarceration to those wrongfully imprisoned and later proven innocent. The law says that exonerees who “contributed to” their conviction don’t qualify for compensation. Because Ochoa pled guilty prosecutors are saying that he contributed to his conviction.

A column in the Los Angeles Times calls for Ochoa to be compensated with no more delay:

The cops, the district attorney and a judge already have had their fun with James Ochoa, behaving like dogs with a chew toy. Now it’s the attorney general’s turn to snarl, take a bite or two, and fling him around some more.

All in the name of justice, of course.

Read the full column here

. (06/30/2007)

Read a

blog post

on this topic from Reason Magazine.

A hearing on Ochoa’s compensation claim is scheduled for October 11.

Read

more about Ochoa’s case

.